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Transcranial direct current stimulation can enhance working memory in Huntington's disease
Clare M Eddy1, Kimron Shapiro2, Andrew Clouter2
1National Centre for Mental Health, BSMHFT, Birmingham and College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry
|April 10, 2017
Summary
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved working memory (WM) in Huntington
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive movement disorder characterized by cognitive decline.
- Working memory (WM) deficits are common early in HD and impact daily functioning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess if transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with cognitive training enhances WM in HD patients.
- To identify if baseline clinical or cognitive measures predict tDCS efficacy.
Main Methods:
- A randomized, double-blind, crossover trial involving 20 HD participants.
- Participants received 1.5mA anodal tDCS or sham stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
- Cognitive tasks, including WM tasks (digit reordering, n-back), were performed pre- and post-stimulation.
Main Results:
- tDCS significantly improved WM span on the digit reordering task compared to sham stimulation.
- WM improvements correlated positively with motor symptom severity and negatively with verbal fluency.
- Patients with more severe motor symptoms demonstrated the greatest WM gains.
Conclusions:
- Anodal tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is well-tolerated and enhances WM span in HD patients.
- Motor symptom severity may predict responsiveness to tDCS-enhanced cognitive training.
- Further research is warranted to explore tDCS for improving functional outcomes in HD.