Effect of the Interindividual Variability on Computational Modeling of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulatory technique that delivers low intensity, direct current to cortical areas facilitating or inhibiting spontaneous neuronal activity. This paper investigates how normal variations in anatomy may affect the current flow through the brain. This was done by applying electromagnetic computational methods to human models of different age and gender and by comparing the electric field and current density amplitude distributions within the tissues. Results of this study showed that the general trend of the spatial distributions of the field amplitude shares some gross characteristics among the different human models for the same electrode montages. However, the physical dimension of the subject and his/her morphological and anatomical characteristics somehow influence the detailed field distributions such as the field values.