title: Manipulation of phosphene thresholds by transcranial direct current stimulation in man.
abstract: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can modulate the excitability of the human motor cortex, as revealed by the amplitude of the motor-evoked potentials (MEP). The aim of our study has been to produce localized changes of cerebral excitability of the visual cortex in the intact human by weak anodal and cathodal stimulation. For quantification of current-induced excitability changes, we measured phosphene threshold (PT) using short trains of 5-Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pulses in nine healthy subjects before, immediately after, 10 min, and 20 min after the end of tDCS. PTs are suggested as representative values of visual cortex excitability changes. Reduced PT was detected immediately and 10 min after the end of anodal stimulation, while cathodal stimulation resulted in an opposite effect. Our results show that tDCS elicits a transient, reversible excitability alteration of the visual cortex, thus representing a promising tool for neuroplasticity research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Robert Koch Strasse 40, 37070 Göttingen, Germany. Aantal@gwdg.de
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antal
authors.forename: Tamás Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Kincses
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nitsche
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Paulus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010719:Phosphenes / Q000502:physiology*; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*