ArticleBasic and clinical neuroscience
Comparing the Efficacy of Anodal, Cathodal, and Sham Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Psychological Symptoms in Opioid-Addicted Patients.
Article in Basic and clinical neuroscience. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcranial Electrical Stimulation in Treatment of Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation in reducing craving in patients with alcohol use disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Neurobiological Mechanisms of Action of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders (SUDs)-A Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Substance Use Disorder (SUD)-A Review and Insights into Possible Mechanisms of Action.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Lesion network guided delta frequency neuromodulation improves cognition in patients with psychosis spectrum disorders: A pilot study.Asian journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- From a Cycle to a Period: The Potential Role of BDNF as Plasticity and Phase-Specific Biomarker in Cocaine Use Disorder.Current neuropharmacology · 2022Article
- Frontotemporal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Decreases Serum Mature Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Schizophrenia.Brain sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionToday, addiction to opioids is a serious problem all over the world. Unfortunately, the consumption of these drugs and the number of addicted people have drastically increased. This research aimed at comparing the efficacy of anodal, cathodal, and sham transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and psychological symptoms in opioid-addicted patients.
methodsThirty opioid-addicted patients were selected based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the Fifth Edition, through the convenience sampling method. They were then randomly assigned to 3 groups (10 in each group). The subjects were evaluated before and after tDCS by their serum level of BDNF, desires for drug questionnaire, and depression anxiety stress scale. The data were analyzed by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, one-way analysis of variance, as well as the Bonferroni test.
resultsStimulating the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) led to a significant change in increasing the level of BDNF (P=0.031) and reducing the degree of depression (P=0.018), anxiety (P=0.001), stress (P=0.012), and decreased the level of craving (P=0.001) in opioid-addicted patients. There was no significant difference between active stimulation groups (anodal left/cathodal right and anodal right/cathodal left). The stimulation of the right DLPFC (group B) significantly increased BDNF in comparison with the sham group (sham tDCS) and decreased anxiety and craving. Nonetheless, no change was observed in depression and stress. The stimulation of the left DLPFC (group A) significantly reduced depression, anxiety, stress, and craving compared with the sham group, while there was no change in BDNF.
conclusionIn addition to the conventional treatments of opioid-addicted patients, tDCS is an effective complementary treatment.
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