Effect of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation at the Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex on the Cognitive Function in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Trial

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (8) ◽  
pp. 1279-1287
Author(s):  
Chernkhuan Stonsaovapak ◽  
Solaphat Hemrungroj ◽  
Pim Terachinda ◽  
Krisna Piravej
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Dong Bai ◽  
Junting Fan ◽  
Mengyue Li ◽  
Cuixia Dong ◽  
Yiming Gao ◽  
...  

Background: The neuroprotective benefits of combined folic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on cognitive function in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients are suggested but unconfirmed. Objective: To explore the effects of 6-month folic acid + DHA on cognitive function in patients with MCI. Methods: Our randomized controlled trial (trial number ChiCTR-IOR-16008351) was conducted in Tianjin, China. We divided 160 MCI patients aged >  60 years into four regimen groups randomly: folic acid (0.8 mg/day) + DHA (800 mg/day), folic acid (0.8 mg/day), DHA (800 mg/day), and placebo, for 6 months. Cognitive function and blood amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) biomarker levels were measured at baseline and 6 months. Cognitive function was also measured at 12 months. Results: A total of 138 patients completed this trial. Folic acid improved the full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ), arithmetic, and picture complement scores; DHA improved the FSIQ, information, arithmetic, and digit span scores; folic acid + DHA improved the arithmetic (difference 1.67, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.31) and digital span (1.33, 0.24 to 2.43) scores compared to placebo. At 12 months, all scores declined in the intervention groups. Folic acid and folic acid + DHA increased blood folate (folic acid + DHA: 7.70, 3.81 to 11.59) and S-adenosylmethionine (23.93, 1.86 to 46.00) levels and reduced homocysteine levels (–6.51, –10.57 to –2.45) compared to placebo. DHA lower the Aβ40 levels (–40.57, –79.79 to –1.35) compared to placebo (p <  0.05), and folic acid + DHA reduced the Aβ42 (–95.59, –150.76 to –40.43) and Aβ40 levels (–45.75, –84.67 to –6.84) more than DHA (p <  0.05). Conclusion: Folic acid and DHA improve cognitive function and reduce blood Aβ production in MCI patients. Combination therapy may be more beneficial in reducing blood Aβ-related biomarkers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Daniela Smirni ◽  
Massimiliano Oliveri ◽  
Eliana Misuraca ◽  
Angela Catania ◽  
Laura Vernuccio ◽  
...  

Background: Recent studies showed that in healthy controls and in aphasic patients, inhibitory trains of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the right prefrontal cortex can improve phonemic fluency performance, while anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left prefrontal cortex can improve performance in naming and semantic fluency tasks. Objective: This study aimed at investigating the effects of cathodal tDCS over the left or the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on verbal fluency tasks (VFT) in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: Forty mild AD patients participated in the study (mean age 73.17±5.61 years). All participants underwent cognitive baseline tasks and a VFT twice. Twenty patients randomly received cathodal tDCS to the left or the right DLPFC, and twenty patients were assigned to a control group in which only the two measures of VFT were taken, without the administration of the tDCS. Results: A significant improvement of performance on the VFT in AD patients was present after tDCS over the right DLPFC (p = 0.001). Instead, no difference was detected between the two VFTs sessions after tDCS over the left DLPFC (p = 0.42). Furthermore, these results cannot be related to task learning effects, since no significant difference was found between the two VFT sessions in the control group (p = 0.73). Conclusion: These data suggest that tDCS over DLPFC can improve VFT performance in AD patients. A hypothesis is that tDCS enhances adaptive patterns of brain activity between functionally connected areas.


Author(s):  
Sina Shafiezadeh ◽  
◽  
Atiyeh Mohammadshirazi ◽  
Mansoureh Eshghi ◽  
Zahra Dokhaei ◽  
...  

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is one of the most prevalent debilitating mental disorders that has a general rate of 2 to 3 percent prevalence. Previous studies indicated that there are abnormalities in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of OCD patients, so we decided to use transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to decline the symptoms of these patients. A total number of 24 OCD patients participated in this study with the hope of improvement after the application of tDCS. The subjects were randomly assigned into three groups as Sham, Right DLPFC, and Left DLPFC tDCS, and tDCS were applied for 5 consecutive days as in each session. The protocol was 2 mA current flow for two 15 minutes lasting period following by a 10 minutes rest in between (every session lasts for 40 minutes). Subsequently, the changes in obsessive-compulsive level and depression, anxiety, and stress followed that were evaluated via Yale-Brown and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) tests by comparing the results of pre-experiment and post-experiment. Ultimately, the results of the Yale-Brown test which evaluates OCD symptoms in Right DLPFC shows significant changes that have occurred after intervention with tDCS (average difference of the Right DLPFC with sham group -6.18 and P-value ≤ 0.01, and for the Left DLPFC with sham group 3.155 and P-value ≥ 0.05). The average DASS scores of pre and post-experiment in the Left DLPFC were -4.63, in the Right DLPFC was -6.62, and in the sham group was -5.13 subsequently. Hereupon, this study demonstrates that tDCS may cause improvements in OCD symptoms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Wu ◽  
Yamei Yu ◽  
Lunjie Luo ◽  
Yuehao Wu ◽  
Jian Gao ◽  
...  

Conventional transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) could improve arousal in disorders of consciousness (DOC). However, the comparative effectiveness of anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC and the electrophysiological effect of tDCS are yet to be determined. In this randomized sham-controlled design, patients were separated into three groups (left/right anodal tDCS, sham). Data on the clinical assessments and EEG were collected at baseline and after 2 weeks of tDCS. The outcome at 3-month follow-up was evaluated using the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended. Results showed that sessions of the left tDCS facilitated the excitability of the prefrontal cortex, whereas only one patient had a positive outcome. Targeting the right DLPFC was less effective, merely leading to activation of the stimulation site, with no effect on the state of arousal. Moreover, sham stimulation had minimal or no effect on any of the outcomes. These results provide evidence for a hemispheric asymmetry of tDCS effects in patients with DOC. Left anodal tDCS might be more effective for modulating cortical excitability compared to tDCS on the right DLPFC. However, future studies with large sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings. This trial is registered with NCT03809936.


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