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Updated: Dec 8, 2025
Non-Invasive Modulation and Robotic Mapping of Motor Cortex in the Developing Brain
Published on: July 1, 2019
Age-related differences of motor cortex plasticity in adults: A transcranial direct current stimulation study
Ensiyeh Ghasemian-Shirvan1, Leila Farnad2, Mohsen Mosayebi-Samani3
1Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, Leibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany; International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Background:
Cognitive, and motor performance are reduced in aging, especially with respect to acquisition of new knowledge, which is associated with a neural plasticity decline. Animal models show a reduction of long-term potentiation, but not long-term depression, in higher age. Findings in humans are more heterogeneous, with some studies showing respective deficits, but others not, or mixed results, for plasticity induced by non-invasive brain stimulation. One reason for these heterogeneous results might be the inclusion of different age ranges in these studies. In addition, a systematic detailed comparison of the age-dependency of neural plasticity in humans is lacking so far.
Objective:
We aimed to explore age-dependent plasticity alterations in adults systematically by discerning between younger and older participants in our study.
Methods:
We recruited three different age groups (Young: 18-30, Pre-Elderly: 50-65, and Elderly: 66-80 years). Anodal, cathodal, or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was applied over the primary motor cortex with 1 mA for 15 min to induce neuroplasticity. Cortical excitability was monitored by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation as an index of plasticity.
Results:
For anodal tDCS, the results show a significant excitability enhancement, as compared to sham stimulation, for both, Young and the Pre-Elderly groups, while no LTP-like plasticity was obtained in the Elderly group by the applied stimulation protocol. Cathodal tDCS induced significant excitability-diminishing plasticity in all age groups.
Conclusion:
Our study provides further insight in age-related differences of plasticity in healthy humans, which are similar to those obtained in animal models. The decline of LTP-like plasticity in higher age could contribute to cognitive deficits observed in aging.
