Effect of conventional transcranial direct current stimulation devices and electrode sizes on motor cortical excitability of the quadriceps muscle

Background: There is a growing concern among the scientific community that the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are highly variable across studies. The use of different tDCS devices and electrode sizes may contribute to this variability; however, this issue has not been verified experimentally. Objective: To evaluate the effects of tDCS device and electrode size on quadriceps motor cortical excitability. Methods: The effect of tDCS device and electrode size on quadriceps motor cortical excitability was quantified across a range of TMS intensities using a novel evoked torque approach that has been previously shown to be highly reliable. In experiment 1, anodal tDCS-induced excitability changes were measured in twenty individuals using two devices (Empi and Soterix) on two separate days. In experiment 2, anodal tDCS-induced excitability changes were measured in thirty individuals divided into three groups based on the electrode size. A novel Bayesian approach was used in addition to the classical hypothesis testing during data analyses. Results: There were no significant main or interaction effects, indicating that cortical excitability did not differ between different tDCS devices or electrode sizes. The lack of pre-post time effect in both experiments indicated that cortical excitability was minimally affected by anodal tDCS. Bayesian analyses indicated that the null model was more favored than the main or the interaction effects model. Conclusions: Motor cortical excitability was not altered by anodal tDCS and did not differ by devices or electrode sizes used in the study. Future studies should examine if behavioral outcomes are different based on tDCS device or electrode size.

Effects of Slow Oscillatory Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Motor Cortical Excitability Assessed by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Graphical AbstractThirty healthy participants received 60 trials of intermittent SO (0.75 Hz) tACS (1 trial = 16 s on + 16 s off) at an intensity of 2 mA. Motor cortical excitability was assessed using TMS-induced MEPs (blue waveforms) acquired across different oscillatory phases during (i.e., online; red arrows) and outlasting (i.e., offline; green arrows) tACS, as well as at the start and end of the stimulation session (blue arrows). Mean MEP amplitude increased by ∼41% from pre- to post-tACS (P = 0.013); however, MEP amplitudes were not modulated with respect to the tACS phase.

Effects of Slow Oscillatory Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Motor Cortical Excitability Assessed by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Converging evidence suggests that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) may entrain endogenous neural oscillations to match the frequency and phase of the exogenously applied current and this entrainment may outlast the stimulation (although only for a few oscillatory cycles following the cessation of stimulation). However, observing entrainment in the electroencephalograph (EEG) during stimulation is extremely difficult due to the presence of complex tACS artefacts. The present study assessed entrainment to slow oscillatory (SO) tACS by measuring motor cortical excitability across different oscillatory phases during (i.e., online) and outlasting (i.e., offline) stimulation. 30 healthy participants received 60 trials of intermittent SO tACS (0.75 Hz; 16s on / off interleaved) at an intensity of 2mA peak-to-peak. Motor cortical excitability was assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the hand region of the primary motor cortex (M1HAND) to induce motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in the contralateral thumb. MEPs were acquired at four time-points within each trial - early online, late online, early offline, and late offline - as well as at the start and end of the overall stimulation period (to probe longer-lasting aftereffects of tACS). A significant increase in MEP amplitude was observed from pre- to post-tACS (P = 0.013) and from the first to the last tACS block (P = 0.008). However, no phase-dependent modulation of excitability was observed. Therefore, although SO tACS had a facilitatory effect on motor cortical excitability that outlasted stimulation, there was no evidence supporting entrainment of endogenous oscillations as the underlying mechanism.

A BCI-based vibrotactile neurofeedback training improves motor cortical excitability during motor imagery

In this study, we address the issue of whether vibrotactile feedback can enhance the motor cortex excitability translated into the plastic changes in local cortical areas during motor imagery (MI) BCI-based training. For this purpose, we focused on two of the most notable neurophysiological effects of MI - the event-related-desynchronization (ERD) level and the increase in cortical excitability assessed with navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS). For TMS navigation, we used individual high-resolution 3D brain MRIs. Ten BCI-naive and healthy adults participated in this study. The MI (rest or left/right hand imagery using Graz-BCI paradigm) tasks were performed separately in the presence and absence of feedback. To investigate how much the presence/absence of vibrotactile feedback in MI BCI-based training could contribute to the sensorimotor cortical activations, we compared the MEPs amplitude during MI after training with and without feedback. In addition, the ERD levels during MI BCI-based training were investigated. Our findings provide evidence that applying vibrotactile feedback during MI training leads to (i) an enhancement of the desynchronization level of mu-rhythm EEG patterns over the contralateral motor cortex area corresponding to the MI of the non-dominant hand; (ii) an increase in motor cortical excitability in hand muscle representation corresponding to a muscle engaged by the MI.