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The Journal of Neuroscience, December 24, 2008, 28(52):14147-14155; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4248-08.2008

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
Increasing Human Brain Excitability by Transcranial High-Frequency Random Noise Stimulation

Daniella Terney, Leila Chaieb, Vera Moliadze, Andrea Antal, and Walter Paulus

Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August University, 37075 Göttingen, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Andrea Antal, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August University, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany. Email: aantal{at}gwdg.de

For >20 years, noninvasive transcranial stimulation techniques like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and direct current stimulation (tDCS) have been used to induce neuroplastic-like effects in the human cortex, leading to the activity-dependent modification of synaptic transmission. Here, we introduce a novel method of electrical stimulation: transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), whereby a random electrical oscillation spectrum is applied over the motor cortex. tRNS induces consistent excitability increases lasting 60 min after stimulation. These effects have been observed in 80 subjects through both physiological measures and behavioral tasks. Higher frequencies (100–640 Hz) appear to be responsible for generating this excitability increase, an effect that may be attributed to the repeated opening of Na⁺ channels. In terms of efficacy tRNS appears to possess at least the same therapeutic potential as rTMS/tDCS in diseases such as depression, while furthermore avoiding the constraint of current flow direction sensitivity characteristic of tDCS.

Key words: transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS); primary motor cortex (M1); transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); serial reaction time task (SRTT); human; neuromodulation

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Received Sept. 4, 2008; revised Oct. 16, 2008; accepted Nov. 12, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Andrea Antal, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August University, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany. Email: aantal{at}gwdg.de

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