Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2026
Concurrent Electroencephalography Recording During Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS)
Published on: January 22, 2016
Safety of 5 kHz tACS
Leila Chaieb1, Andrea Antal2, Alberto Pisoni3
1Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University Medical Center, Georg-August University, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, Göttingen 37075, Germany; Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Background:
Sinusoidal transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 5 kHz applied for 10 min at 1 mA intensity over the hand area of the primary motor cortex (M1) results in sustained changes in cortical excitability as previously demonstrated.
Objective:
Here we have assessed safety aspects of this stimulation method by measuring neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels, examining electroencephalogram (EEG) traces and analyzing anatomical data by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Methods:
Altogether 18 healthy volunteers participated in the study. tACS was applied at 5 kHz for a duration of 10 min over the left M1 at an intensity of 1 mA.
Results:
After stimulation no significant changes were detected in NSE levels, no structural alterations were observed in the anatomical scans and no pathological changes were found in the EEG recordings.
Conclusions:
Our data imply that the application of tACS is safe at least within these parameters and with these applied protocols.
