Zhao Rui, He Zhao-Yang, Cheng Chen, Tian Qian-Qian, Cui Ya-Peng, Chang Meng-Ying, Wang Fu-Min, Kong Yao, Deng Hui, Yang Xue-Juan, Sun Jin-Bo
School of Electronics and Information, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, China.
Intelligent Non-invasive Neuromodulation Technology and Transformation Joint Laboratory, Xidian University, Xi'an, China.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Jul 19;16:947236. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.947236. eCollection 2022.
A previous study found that combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) could evoke significantly larger activation on a range of cortical and subcortical brain regions than the numerical summation of tDCS and taVNS effects. In this study, two within-subject experiments were employed to investigate its effects on working memory (WM). In experiment 1, the WM modulatory effects of tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), taVNS, and simultaneous joint simulation of tDCS over the left DLPFC and taVNS (SJS-L) were compared among 60 healthy subjects. They received these three interventions between the baseline test and post-test in a random manner three times. In spatial 3-back task, there was a significant interaction between time and stimulations in the accuracy rate of matching trials (mACC, =). MACCs were significantly improved by SJS ( = ) and taVNS ( = ), but not by tDCS ( = ). Moreover, 41 subjects in the SJS group showed improvement, which was significantly larger than that in the taVNS group (29 subjects) and tDCS group (26 subjects). To further investigate the generalization effects of SJS, 72 students were recruited in experiment 2. They received tDCS over the right DLPFC, taVNS, simultaneous joint simulation of tDCS over the right DLPFC and taVNS (SJS-R), and sham stimulation in a random manner four times. No significant results were found, but there was a tendency similar to experiment 1 in the spatial 3-back task. In conclusion, combining tDCS and taVNS might be a potential non-invasive neuromodulation technique which is worthy of study in future.
先前的一项研究发现，与经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）和经皮耳迷走神经刺激（taVNS）效果的数值总和相比，将两者结合可在一系列皮质和皮质下脑区诱发显著更强的激活。在本研究中，采用了两个受试者内实验来研究其对工作记忆（WM）的影响。在实验1中，比较了60名健康受试者中tDCS对左侧背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）的WM调节作用、taVNS以及tDCS对左侧DLPFC和taVNS的同步联合刺激（SJS-L）。他们在基线测试和后测之间以随机方式接受这三种干预三次。在空间3-back任务中，匹配试验准确率的时间和刺激之间存在显著交互作用（mACC，=）。SJS（=）和taVNS（=）显著提高了mACC，但tDCS（=）没有。此外，SJS组的41名受试者表现出改善，显著大于taVNS组（29名受试者）和tDCS组（26名受试者）。为了进一步研究SJS的泛化效应，在实验2中招募了72名学生。他们以随机方式接受了对右侧DLPFC的tDCS、taVNS、tDCS对右侧DLPFC和taVNS的同步联合刺激（SJS-R）以及假刺激四次。未发现显著结果，但在空间3-back任务中存在与实验1类似的趋势。总之，结合tDCS和taVNS可能是一种潜在的非侵入性神经调节技术，值得未来研究。
