TY - JOUR
T1 - Bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation language treatment enhances functional connectivity in the left hemisphere
T2 - Preliminary data from aphasia
AU - Marangolo, Paola
AU - Fiori, Valentina
AU - Sabatini, Umberto
AU - De Pasquale, Giada
AU - Razzano, Carmela
AU - Caltagirone, Carlo
AU - Gili, Tommaso
PY - 2016/5/1
Y1 - 2016/5/1
N2 - Several studies have already shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a useful tool for enhancing recovery in aphasia. However, no reports to date have investigated functional connectivity changes on cortical activity because of tDCS language treatment. Here, nine aphasic persons with articulatory disorders underwent an intensive language therapy in two different conditions: bilateral anodic stimulation over the left Broca’s area and cathodic contralesional stimulation over the right homologue of Broca’s area and a sham condition. The language treatment lasted 3 weeks (Monday to Friday, 15 sessions). In all patients, language measures were collected before (T0) and at the end of treatment (T15). Before and after each treatment condition (real vs. sham), each participant underwent a resting-state fMRI study. Results showed that, after real stimulation, patients exhibited the greatest recovery not only in terms of better accuracy in articulating the treated stimuli but also for untreated items on different tasks of the language test. Moreover, although after the sham condition connectivity changes were confined to the right brain hemisphere, real stimulation yielded to stronger functional connectivity increase in the left hemisphere. In conclusion, our data provide converging evidence from behavioral and functional imaging data that bilateral tDCS determines functional connectivity changes within the lesioned hemisphere, enhancing the language recovery process in stroke patients.
AB - Several studies have already shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a useful tool for enhancing recovery in aphasia. However, no reports to date have investigated functional connectivity changes on cortical activity because of tDCS language treatment. Here, nine aphasic persons with articulatory disorders underwent an intensive language therapy in two different conditions: bilateral anodic stimulation over the left Broca’s area and cathodic contralesional stimulation over the right homologue of Broca’s area and a sham condition. The language treatment lasted 3 weeks (Monday to Friday, 15 sessions). In all patients, language measures were collected before (T0) and at the end of treatment (T15). Before and after each treatment condition (real vs. sham), each participant underwent a resting-state fMRI study. Results showed that, after real stimulation, patients exhibited the greatest recovery not only in terms of better accuracy in articulating the treated stimuli but also for untreated items on different tasks of the language test. Moreover, although after the sham condition connectivity changes were confined to the right brain hemisphere, real stimulation yielded to stronger functional connectivity increase in the left hemisphere. In conclusion, our data provide converging evidence from behavioral and functional imaging data that bilateral tDCS determines functional connectivity changes within the lesioned hemisphere, enhancing the language recovery process in stroke patients.
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U2 - 10.1162/jocn_a_00927
DO - 10.1162/jocn_a_00927
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84962750726
VL - 28
SP - 724
EP - 738
JO - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
SN - 0898-929X
IS - 5
ER -