Claes Laura, Stamberger Hannah, Van de Heyning Paul, De Ridder Dirk, Vanneste Sven
Department of Translational Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, 2610 Antwerpen, Belgium.
Department of Surgical Sciences, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Neural Plast. 2014;2014:436713. doi: 10.1155/2014/436713. Epub 2014 Dec 22.
Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the absence of an external acoustic source, which often exerts a significant impact on the quality of life. Currently there is evidence that neuroplastic changes in both neural pathways are involved in the generation and maintaining of tinnitus. Neuromodulation has been suggested to interfere with these neuroplastic alterations. In this study we aimed to compare the effect of two upcoming forms of transcranial electrical neuromodulation: alternating current stimulation (tACS) and random noise stimulation (tRNS), both applied on the auditory cortex. A database with 228 patients with chronic tinnitus who underwent noninvasive neuromodulation was retrospectively analyzed. The results of this study show that a single session of tRNS induces a significant suppressive effect on tinnitus loudness and distress, in contrast to tACS. Multiple sessions of tRNS augment the suppressive effect on tinnitus loudness but have no effect on tinnitus distress. In conclusion this preliminary study shows a possibly beneficial effect of tRNS on tinnitus and can be a motivation for future randomized placebo-controlled clinical studies with auditory tRNS for tinnitus. Auditory alpha-modulated tACS does not seem to be contributing to the treatment of tinnitus.
耳鸣是在没有外部声源的情况下对声音的感知，这通常会对生活质量产生重大影响。目前有证据表明，两条神经通路中的神经可塑性变化都参与了耳鸣的产生和维持。有人提出神经调节可以干扰这些神经可塑性改变。在本研究中，我们旨在比较两种即将出现的经颅电神经调节形式的效果：交流电刺激（tACS）和随机噪声刺激（tRNS），二者均作用于听觉皮层。我们对一个包含228例接受无创神经调节的慢性耳鸣患者的数据库进行了回顾性分析。本研究结果表明，与tACS相比，单次tRNS治疗可对耳鸣响度和痛苦感产生显著的抑制作用。多次tRNS治疗可增强对耳鸣响度的抑制作用，但对耳鸣痛苦感无影响。总之，这项初步研究表明tRNS对耳鸣可能具有有益作用，这可为未来使用听觉tRNS治疗耳鸣的随机安慰剂对照临床研究提供动力。听觉α调制tACS似乎对耳鸣治疗没有帮助。
