Optimizing electrode placement for transcranial direct current stimulation in nonsuperficial cortical regions: a...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Engineering
• Computational Modeling

Background:

• Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation method.
• Conventional tDCS electrodes primarily target superficial cortical areas.
• Optimal electrode montages for stimulating nonsuperficial cortical regions remain under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate and identify optimal tDCS electrode montages for effectively stimulating nonsuperficial cortical regions.
• To determine electrode configurations that maximize electric field delivery to deep brain areas.

Main Methods:

• Utilized two finite element head models for computational simulations.
• Simulated tDCS electric fields for four distinct nonsuperficial cortical targets.
• Identified optimal electrode montages based on simulation outcomes.

Main Results:

• Consistent optimal montages were found across both computational models.
• Specific montages identified: C4-C3 for foot motor cortex, F4-F3 for dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), Fp2-F7 for medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), and Oz-Cz for primary visual cortex (V1).

Conclusions:

• The study provides specific, optimized tDCS electrode montages for targeting nonsuperficial cortical areas.
• These optimized montages are expected to enhance the efficacy of tDCS for deep brain stimulation.