Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 22, 2025
05:01
Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Published on: September 20, 2024
611
Transcranial direct current stimulation induces long-term potentiation-like plasticity in the human visual cortex.
Lukas Frase1, Lydia Mertens2, Arno Krahl2
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center, University of Freiburg-Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. lukas.frase@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
Translational Psychiatry
|January 8, 2021
Summary
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can induce long-term potentiation-like plasticity in the human cortex. This noninvasive brain stimulation may offer a new mechanism for treating psychiatric disorders by restoring synaptic plasticity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Neurophysiology
Background:
- Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique used for psychiatric disorders, but its mechanism is unclear.
- Prolonged visual stimulation (PVS) enhances visually evoked potentials (VEPs) and may reflect long-term potentiation (LTP) in humans.
Purpose of the Study:
- To induce and analyze VEP plasticity.
- To investigate if tDCS can modulate or mimic plasticity changes induced by PVS.
Main Methods:
- Thirty-eight healthy participants underwent tDCS, PVS, combined stimulation, or no stimulation.
- VEP plasticity was measured before and after stimulation sessions.
- tDCS involved a 1mA current applied for 10 minutes; PVS used a checkerboard pattern.
Main Results:
- Both tDCS and PVS decreased C1 amplitudes and N1 amplitudes compared to no stimulation.
- All stimulation types increased P1 amplitudes, but without significant differences between active and no stimulation.
- Combined stimulation showed sustained modulation of C1 and N1, but with a smaller effect size than additive effects.
Conclusions:
- tDCS can directly induce LTP-like plasticity in the human cortex.
- This suggests tDCS may work by restoring dysregulated synaptic plasticity in psychiatric conditions like depression and schizophrenia.
