title: Prefronto-cerebellar tDCS enhances neurocognition in euthymic bipolar patients. Findings from a placebo-controlled neuropsychological and psychophysiological investigation.
abstract: The present double blind placebo-controlled study aimed at investigating the efficacy of 3-weeks prefronto-cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on neurocognitive functioning in euthymic BD patients.
  
  
  
  Forty-two outpatients with BD were randomly assigned to receive either active (n=21) or sham (n=21) prefronto-cerebellar tDCS for 3 consecutive weeks. Neurocognitive abilities were assessed with both neuropsychological testing and psychophysiological evaluation with a P300 novelty task.
  
  
  
  Our results showed that (i) Trail Making Test-B, a measure of executive functioning, decreased significantly in the active but not in the sham group, (ii) Rey Complex Figure Test Delay Recall, a measure of visuospatial memory, increased significantly in both groups with a greater increase in the active compared to the sham group, and (iii) P3b latency, a measure of brain information processing stream, decreased significantly in the active but not in the sham group. No significant changes were observed in the other explored neuropsychological and psychophysiological measures.
  
  
  
  The study suggests that concomitant prefrontal-excitatory and cerebellar-inhibitory tDCS in euthymic BD patients may lead to better neurocognitive performance, quantified through neuropsychological and psychophysiological measures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco Saverio
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Bersani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Electronic address: amedeomin@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Amedeo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Minichino
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bernabei
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Spagnoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corrado
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucilla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vergnani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mannarelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pauletti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fattapposta
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Delle Chiaie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Bipolar disorder; Cerebellum; P300; Transcranial direct current stimulation; Visuospatial memory; Working memory