Anodal Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation: The Effects of Pulse Duration on Corticospinal Excitability

Shapour Jaberzadeh; Andisheh Bastani; Maryam Zoghi; Prue Morgan; Paul B Fitzgerald

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131779

Anodal Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation: The Effects of Pulse Duration on Corticospinal Excitability

PLoS One. 2015 Jul 15;10(7):e0131779. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131779. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Shapour Jaberzadeh¹, Andisheh Bastani², Maryam Zoghi³, Prue Morgan¹, Paul B Fitzgerald⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, School of Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
² Department of Physiotherapy, School of Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
³ Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁴ Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Monash University Central Clinical School and The Alfred, Melbourne, Australia.

Abstract

The aim is to investigate the effects of pulse duration (PD) on the modulatory effects of transcranial pulsed current (tPCS) on corticospinal excitability (CSE). CSE of the dominant primary motor cortex (M1) of right first dorsal interosseous muscle was assessed by motor evoked potentials, before, immediately, 10, 20 and 30 minutes after application of five experimental conditions: 1) anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS), 2) a-tPCS with 125 ms pulse duartion (a-tPCSPD = 125), 3) a-tPCS with 250 ms pulse duration (a-tPCSPD = 250), 4) a-tPCS with 500 ms pulse duration (a-tPCSPD = 500) and 5) sham a-tPCS. The total charges were kept constant in all experimental conditions except sham condition. Post-hoc comparisons indicated that a-tPCSPD = 500 produced larger CSE compared to a-tPCSPD = 125 (P<0.0001), a-tPCSPD = 250 (P = 0.009) and a-tDCS (P = 0.008). Also, there was no significant difference between a-tPCSPD = 250 and a-tDCS on CSE changes (P>0.05). All conditions except a-tPCSPD = 125 showed a significant difference to the sham group (P<0.006). All participants tolerated the applied currents. It could be concluded that a-tPCS with a PD of 500ms induces largest CSE changes, however further studies are required to identify optimal values.

Publication types

Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Cross-Over Studies
Electrodes
Electromyography
Evoked Potentials, Motor
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Cortex / physiology
Pruritus / etiology
Pyramidal Tracts / physiology*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation* / adverse effects

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Monash University, Faculty Grant, Strategic Grant Scheme (SJ, MZ, PM, PBF) and Postgraduate Publication Award scheme (AB). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.