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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging and Stimulation
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1461417
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploration of the Human Brain using Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation View all 9 articles

A Study of Long-Term GABA and High-Energy Phosphate Alterations in the Primary Motor Cortex Using Anodal tDCS and 1 H/ 31 P MR Spectroscopy

Provisionally accepted
Harshal Jayeshkumar Patel Harshal Jayeshkumar Patel 1Lea-Sophie Stollberg Lea-Sophie Stollberg 2Chang-Hoon Choi Chang-Hoon Choi 3Michael A Nitsche Michael A Nitsche 4N. Jon Shah N. Jon Shah 3,5,6,7Ferdinand Binkofski Ferdinand Binkofski 2,3,5*
  • 1 aDivision of Clinical Cognitive Sciences, Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital,, Department of Clinical Cognitive Sciences, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
  • 2 Division of Clinical Cognitive Sciences, Department of Neurology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • 3 Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine - 4, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH,, Jülich, Germany
  • 4 Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • 5 JARA - Brain - Translational Medicine, Aachen, Germany
  • 6 Department of Neurology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • 7 JARA Institute Molecular neuroscience and neuroimaging (INM-11), Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Julich Research Center, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HZ), Jülich, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been reported to modulate gammaaminobutyric acid levels and cerebral energy consumption in the brain. This study aims to investigate long-term GABA and cerebral energy modulation following anodal tDCS over the primary motor cortex.To assess GABA and energy level changes, proton and phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy data were acquired before and after anodal or sham tDCS. In anodal stimulation, a 1 mA current was applied for 20 minutes, and the duration of ramping the current up/down at the start and end of the intervention was 10 seconds. In the sham-stimulation condition, the current was first ramped up over a period of 10 seconds, then immediately ramped down, and the condition was maintained for the next 20 minutes.The GABA concentration increased significantly following anodal stimulation in the first and second post-stimulation measurements. Likewise, both ATP/Pi and PCr/Pi ratios increased after anodal stimulation in the first and second post-stimulation measurements.The approach employed in this study shows the feasibility of measuring long-term modulation of GABA and high-energy phosphates following anodal tDCS targeting the left M1, offering valuable insights into the mechanisms of neuroplasticity and energy metabolism, which may have implications for applications of this intervention in clinical populations.

    Keywords: hat formatiert: Deutsch (Deutschland) Feldfunktion geändert tDCS, GABA, 31 PMRS 1 HMRS, primary motor cortex, neuroplasticity, Energy

    Received: 08 Jul 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Patel, Stollberg, Choi, Nitsche, Shah and Binkofski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ferdinand Binkofski, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine - 4, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH,, Jülich, Germany

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