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Updated: Apr 20, 2026
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Simultaneous Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: April 27, 2014
Transcranial direct current stimulation in mild cognitive impairment: Behavioral effects and neural mechanisms
Marcus Meinzer1, Robert Lindenberg2, Mai Thy Phan2
1Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Department of Neurology, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
Introduction:
The long preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease provides opportunities for potential disease-modifying interventions in prodromal stages such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (anodal-tDCS), with its potential to enhance neuroplasticity, may allow improving cognition in MCI.
Methods:
In a double-blind, cross-over, sham-controlled study, anodal-tDCS was administered to the left inferior frontal cortex during task-related and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess its impact on cognition and brain functions in MCI.
Results:
During sham stimulation, MCI patients produced fewer correct semantic-word-retrieval responses than matched healthy controls, which was associated with hyperactivity in bilateral prefrontal regions. Anodal-tDCS significantly improved performance to the level of controls, reduced task-related prefrontal hyperactivity and resulted in "normalization" of abnormal network configuration during resting-state fMRI.
Discussion:
Anodal-tDCS exerts beneficial effects on cognition and brain functions in MCI, thereby providing a framework to test whether repeated stimulation sessions may yield sustained reversal of cognitive deficits.
