Post-Graduate Program in Biological Sciences, Department of Physiology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre, Brazil ; Pharmacology Department, Institute of Basic Health Science, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre, Brazil ; Laboratory of Pain and Neuromodulation, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Front Psychiatry. 2012 Dec 28;3:110. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00110. eCollection 2012.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is affordable and easy to operate compared to other neuromodulation techniques. Anodal stimulation increases cortical excitability, while the cathodal stimulation decreases it. Although tDCS is a promising treatment approach for chronic pain as well as for neuropsychiatric diseases and other neurological disorders, several complex neurobiological mechanisms that are not well understood are involved in its effect. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize the current knowledge regarding the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the effects of tDCS. The initial search resulted in 171 articles. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, we screened 32 full-text articles to extract findings about the neurobiology of tDCS effects including investigation of cortical excitability parameters. Overall, these findings show that tDCS involves a cascade of events at the cellular and molecular levels. Moreover, tDCS is associated with glutamatergic, GABAergic, dopaminergic, serotonergic, and cholinergic activity modulation. Though these studies provide important advancements toward the understanding of mechanisms underlying tDCS effects, further studies are needed to integrate these mechanisms as to optimize clinical development of tDCS.
经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）是一种非侵入性的脑刺激技术，与其他神经调节技术相比，它具有经济实惠、易于操作的特点。阳极刺激会增加皮质兴奋性，而阴极刺激则会降低皮质兴奋性。虽然 tDCS 是一种有前途的治疗慢性疼痛、神经精神疾病和其他神经疾病的方法，但它的作用涉及到许多尚未完全理解的复杂神经生物学机制。本系统综述的目的是总结目前关于 tDCS 作用涉及的神经生物学机制的知识。最初的搜索结果有 171 篇文章。在应用纳入和排除标准后，我们筛选了 32 篇全文文章，以提取关于 tDCS 效应的神经生物学发现，包括皮质兴奋性参数的研究。总的来说，这些发现表明 tDCS 涉及细胞和分子水平的一连串事件。此外，tDCS 与谷氨酸能、GABA 能、多巴胺能、血清素能和胆碱能活性的调节有关。虽然这些研究为理解 tDCS 作用的机制提供了重要进展，但需要进一步的研究来整合这些机制，以优化 tDCS 的临床开发。
