Salehinejad Mohammad Ali, Vosough Younes, Nejati Vahid
Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, 44139 Dortmund, Germany.
Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 1983969411, Iran.
Brain Sci. 2022 Aug 18;12(8):1098. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12081098.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is increasingly used for therapeutic purposes in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is the most targeted region of tDCS studies in ADHD. There is limited knowledge and mixed results about the relevance of left or right DLPFCs in ADHD's cognitive deficits. No study so far has investigated the impact of the increased excitability of both left and right DLPFC with anodal tDCS on cognitive deficits in ADHD. Here, we explored the impact of online bilateral anodal left and right DLPFC tDCS on executive dysfunction in children with ADHD. Twenty-two children with ADHD (mean age ± SD =8.86 ± 1.80) received bilateral anodal online tDCS over the left and right DLPFC (1.5 mA, 15 min) in two separate sessions in active and sham states. They underwent a battery of four neuropsychological tasks of executive functions during stimulation that measured working memory, cognitive flexibility, response inhibition, and executive control. Bilateral anodal left and right DLPFC tDCS did not improve performance on working memory, cognitive flexibility, and response inhibition. Executive control was, however, partially improved for those who received active tDCS first. The upregulation of bilateral DLPFC tDCS with anodal polarity does not improve executive dysfunction in children with ADHD. The unilateral modulation of DLPFC with anodal tDCS may be more beneficial to cognitive deficits in ADHD in light of previous works targeting only left and/or right DLPFC.
经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）越来越多地被用于治疗注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）。背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）是ADHD的tDCS研究中最常靶向的区域。关于左侧或右侧DLPFC与ADHD认知缺陷之间的相关性，目前了解有限且结果不一。到目前为止，尚无研究调查阳极tDCS使左右两侧DLPFC兴奋性增加对ADHD认知缺陷的影响。在此，我们探讨了在线双侧阳极左右DLPFC tDCS对ADHD儿童执行功能障碍的影响。22名ADHD儿童（平均年龄±标准差=8.86±1.80）在主动和假刺激两种状态下，分两个单独疗程接受了左右DLPFC的双侧阳极在线tDCS（1.5毫安，15分钟）。在刺激过程中，他们接受了一系列四项执行功能的神经心理学任务，以测量工作记忆、认知灵活性、反应抑制和执行控制。双侧阳极左右DLPFC tDCS并未改善工作记忆、认知灵活性和反应抑制方面的表现。然而，对于先接受主动tDCS的儿童，执行控制有部分改善。阳极极性的双侧DLPFC tDCS上调并不能改善ADHD儿童的执行功能障碍。鉴于以往仅针对左侧和/或右侧DLPFC的研究，阳极tDCS对DLPFC的单侧调节可能对ADHD的认知缺陷更有益。
