Modulation of neurophysiological auditory processing measures by bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation in schizophrenia

Walter Dunn; Yuri Rassovsky; Jonathan K Wynn; Allan D Wu; Marco Iacoboni; Gerhard Hellemann; Michael F Green

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2016.04.021

Modulation of neurophysiological auditory processing measures by bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation in schizophrenia

Schizophr Res. 2016 Jul;174(1-3):189-191. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2016.04.021. Epub 2016 Apr 28.

Authors

Walter Dunn¹, Yuri Rassovsky², Jonathan K Wynn³, Allan D Wu⁴, Marco Iacoboni⁵, Gerhard Hellemann⁶, Michael F Green³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veteran Affairs VISN-22 Mental Illness Research Education Clinical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: wdunn@mednet.ucla.edu.
² Department of Psychology and Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Veteran Affairs VISN-22 Mental Illness Research Education Clinical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

PMID: 27132485
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2016.04.021

Abstract

This study used bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to target neural generators of auditory Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and oddball P300 in schizophrenia patients. tDCS was applied to the pre-frontal cortex in a parallel between-group design. There was a significant main effect of stimulation resulting in modulation of MMN amplitude. This effect was mainly driven by a non-significant, but large, effect-size decrease in MMN amplitude with anodal stimulation. This is the first study to demonstrate that tDCS is able to engage and modulate an EEG-based auditory processing measure in schizophrenia.

Keywords: Cognition; Mismatch negativity; Schizophrenia; Target engagement; Transcranial direct current stimulation; tDCS.

Published by Elsevier B.V.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Analysis of Variance
Auditory Perception / physiology*
Brain / physiopathology*
Electroencephalography*
Evoked Potentials, Auditory
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Schizophrenia / physiopathology*
Schizophrenia / therapy
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation* / methods