Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37268628›Full record

Trial reportNature communications2023

Microstructural and functional plasticity following repeated brain stimulation during cognitive training in older adults.

Daria Antonenko, Anna Elisabeth Fromm, Friederike Thams, Ulrike Grittner, Marcus Meinzer, Agnes Flöel

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03838211 (tDCS-accompanied Cognitive Training Effects in Healthy Older Adults - Randomised, Sham Controlled, Interventional Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 38 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
38citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
8.4field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03838211 nacompletednot on this map

tDCS-accompanied Cognitive Training Effects in Healthy Older Adults - Randomised, Sham Controlled, Interventional Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity Medicine GreifswaldRan2018 to 2020Enrolled56ConditionsAgingArmsAnodal tDCS, Intensive cognitive training
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

38 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Trial
  11. Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Trial
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Daria AntonenkoDepartment of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany. daria.antonenko@med.uni-greifswald.de.ORCID 0000-0002-2839-4609
Anna Elisabeth FrommDepartment of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Friederike ThamsDepartment of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-3674-4610
Ulrike GrittnerBerlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-2595-0224
Marcus MeinzerDepartment of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Agnes FlöelDepartment of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Universitätsmedizin Greifswald · DEHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The combination of repeated behavioral training with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) holds promise to exert beneficial effects on brain function beyond the trained task. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. We performed a monocenter, single-blind randomized, placebo-controlled trial comparing cognitive training to concurrent anodal tDCS (target intervention) with cognitive training to concurrent sham tDCS (control intervention), registered at ClinicalTrial.gov (Identifier NCT03838211). The primary outcome (performance in trained task) and secondary behavioral outcomes (performance on transfer tasks) were reported elsewhere. Here, underlying mechanisms were addressed by pre-specified analyses of multimodal magnetic resonance imaging before and after a three-week executive function training with prefrontal anodal tDCS in 48 older adults. Results demonstrate that training combined with active tDCS modulated prefrontal white matter microstructure which predicted individual transfer task performance gain. Training-plus-tDCS also resulted in microstructural grey matter alterations at the stimulation site, and increased prefrontal functional connectivity. We provide insight into the mechanisms underlying neuromodulatory interventions, suggesting tDCS-induced changes in fiber organization and myelin formation, glia-related and synaptic processes in the target region, and synchronization within targeted functional networks. These findings advance the mechanistic understanding of neural tDCS effects, thereby contributing to more targeted neural network modulation in future experimental and translation tDCS applications.

Indexed as

Transcranial Direct Current StimulationAgedBrainCognitive TrainingDouble-Blind MethodHumansPrefrontal CortexSingle-Blind MethodStereotaxic Techniques

Identifiers

PMID37268628
PMCPMC10238397
OpenAlexW4379197439

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.