Experimental Psychology Lab, University of Oldenburg Oldenburg, Germany.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Apr 30;7:161. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00161. eCollection 2013.
The interest in transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has significantly increased in the past decade. It has potential to modulate brain oscillations in a frequency specific manner, offering the possibility to demonstrate a causal nature of oscillation behavior relationships. TACS is a strong candidate as a tool for clinical applications, however, to fulfill this potential, certain parameters have yet to be evaluated. First, little is known about long-lasting after-effects of tACS with respect to the modulations of rhythmic brain activity. Second, the power of endogenous brain oscillations might play a crucial role in the efficacy of tACS. We hypothesize that the after-effects of tACS depend on the endogenous power of oscillations. To this end, we modulated the power of endogenous occipital alpha oscillations via tACS. In two experiments, participants either had their eyes open or closed to keep endogenous alpha power either low or high while they were stimulated for 20 min with their individual alpha frequency (IAF) and simultaneously performing a vigilance task. After-effects on IAF power were evaluated over a course of 30 min with a pre stimulation period serving as baseline. After-effects were strongly dependent on IAF power. Enhanced IAF power was observed for at least 30 min after tACS under conditions of low endogenous IAF power, whereas, IAF power could not be further enhanced by tACS under conditions of high IAF power. The current study demonstrates, for the first time, a long lasting effect after tACS on endogenous EEG power in the range of the stimulation frequency. Additionally, we present conclusive evidence that the power of the endogenous oscillations has a critical impact on tACS efficacy. Long lasting after-effects foster the role of tACS as a tool for non-invasive brain stimulation and demonstrate the potential for therapeutic application to reestablish the balance of altered brain oscillations.
在过去的十年中,经颅交流电刺激(tACS)的研究兴趣显著增加。它具有以特定频率调节脑振荡的潜力,提供了证明振荡行为关系因果性质的可能性。TACS 是一种很有前途的临床应用工具,然而,为了发挥这种潜力,某些参数仍有待评估。首先,关于 tACS 对节律性脑活动的调制的长期后效知之甚少。其次,内源性脑振荡的功率可能在 tACS 的疗效中起着至关重要的作用。我们假设 tACS 的后效取决于振荡的内源性功率。为此,我们通过 tACS 调制内源性枕部 alpha 振荡的功率。在两项实验中,参与者要么睁开眼睛,要么闭上眼睛,以保持内源性 alpha 功率低或高,同时用他们的个体 alpha 频率(IAF)刺激 20 分钟,并同时执行警觉任务。在 30 分钟的过程中评估刺激前作为基线的 IAF 功率的后效。后效强烈依赖于 IAF 功率。在低内源性 IAF 功率的情况下,tACS 后至少 30 分钟观察到 IAF 功率增强,而在高 IAF 功率的情况下,tACS 无法进一步增强 IAF 功率。本研究首次证明了 tACS 对刺激频率范围内内源性 EEG 功率的长期后效。此外,我们提供了确凿的证据,证明内源性振荡的功率对 tACS 疗效具有关键影响。持久的后效促进了 tACS 作为非侵入性脑刺激工具的作用,并证明了其治疗应用潜力,以重新建立改变的脑振荡的平衡。