RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Preconditioning cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates the neuroplastic effect of subsequent anodal transcranial direct current stimulation applied during cycling in young adults
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 653634
DO 10.1101/653634
A1 Maryam Pourmajidian
A1 Benedikt Lauber
A1 Simranjit K Sidhu
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/06/03/653634.abstract
AB The study aimed to examine the effect of a priming cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) before subsequent anodal-tDCS (atDCS) was applied during low workload cycling exercise on the corticospinal responses in young healthy individuals. Eleven young subjects participated in two sessions receiving either priming ctDCS or sham stimulation, followed by atDCS while cycling (i.e. ctDCS-atDCS, sham-atDCS) at 1.2 times their body weight (84 ± 20 W) in a counterbalanced double-blind design. Corticospinal excitability was measured with motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited via transcranial magnetic stimulation with the intensity set to produce an MEP amplitude of 1 mV in a resting hand muscle at baseline (PRE), following priming tDCS (POST-PRIMING) and post atDCS combined with cycling exercise (POST-TEST). There was a significant interaction between time and intervention (P < 0.01) on MEPs. MEPs increased from PRE (1.0 ± 0.06 mV) to POST-TEST (1.3 ± 0.06 mV) during ctDCS-atDCS (P < 0.001) but did not change across time during sham-atDCS (1.0 ± 0.06 mV, P > 0.7). Furthermore, MEPs were higher in ctDCS-atDCS compared to sham-atDCS (P < 0.01) at both POST-PRIMING (ctDCS-atDCS: 1.1 ± 0.06, sham-atDCS: 1.0 ± 0.06) and POST-TEST (ctDCS-atDCS: 1.3 ± 0.06, sham-atDCS: 1.0 ± 0.06). These outcomes demonstrate that cathodal tDCS priming can enhance corticospinal excitability following anodal tDCS applied in combination with cycling exercise. The findings have implications for the application of tDCS in combination with cycling exercise in rehabilitation and sporting contexts.TMStranscranial magnetic stimulationMEPsmotor evoked potentialsatDCSanodal transcranial direct current stimulationctDCScathodal transcranial direct current stimulationM1motor cortexEMGelectromyographyFDIfirst dorsal interosseousRMTresting motor thresholdNIBSnon-invasive brain stimulation