Ignite Creation Date:
2024-05-05 @ 4:52 PM
Last Modification Date:
2024-10-26 @ 9:25 AM
Study NCT ID:
NCT00331318
Status:
COMPLETED
Last Update Posted:
2017-07-02
First Post:
2006-05-27
Brief Title:
Improving Hand Movement Training Through Electrical Stimulation of the Brain
Sponsor:
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke NINDS
Organization:
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center CC
Study Overview
Official Title:
Encoding a Motor Memory Through Metaplasticity
Status:
COMPLETED
Status Verified Date:
2008-04-21
Last Known Status:
None
Delayed Posting:
No
If Stopped, Why?:
Not Stopped
Has Expanded Access:
False
If Expanded Access, NCT#:
N/A
Has Expanded Access, NCT# Status:
N/A
Acronym:
None
Brief Summary:
This study will determine if applying electrical stimulation of the brain can influence training to perform finger movements The study may provide information that can be used to design rehabilitation therapies for people who have lost the ability to move a part of their body such as an arm leg or hand following a stroke
Healthy volunteers 18-50 years of age may be eligible for this study Candidates are screened with a medical history physical examination MRI if one has not been done within the last year questionnaire to evaluate memory and attention and a pregnancy test for women who can become pregnant
Participants have the following tests and procedures in seven sessions over about 8 weeks
Questionnaires to test attention fatigue and mood before during and after each session
Surface electromyography Electrodes are filed with a conductive gel and taped to the skin over one small hand muscle to measure the electrical activity of muscles
Transcranial magnetic stimulation A wire coil is held on the scalp A brief electrical current passes through the coil to stimulate the brain During the stimulation the subject may be asked to tense certain muscles slightly or perform other simple actions The stimulation may cause a twitch in muscles of the face arm or leg and the subject may hear a click and feel a pulling sensation on the skin under the coil
Transcranial direct stimulation tDCS before and during motor training Small wet sponge electrodes are applied to the head - one above the eye and the other on the back of the head A small electrical current is passed between them The subject may feel an itching or tingling sensation under the electrodes or see light flashes
Motor learning under tDCS tDCS is repeated while the subject performs the training task The training task consists of performing voluntary brisk thumb movements in a direction opposite to TMS-induced movement directions during 30 minutes Training blocks are in 10-minute segments and tDCS is applied during the first 20 minutes
Behavioral measurements Evaluation of learned movement tasks
Healthy volunteers 18-50 years of age may be eligible for this study Candidates are screened with a medical history physical examination MRI if one has not been done within the last year questionnaire to evaluate memory and attention and a pregnancy test for women who can become pregnant
Participants have the following tests and procedures in seven sessions over about 8 weeks
Questionnaires to test attention fatigue and mood before during and after each session
Surface electromyography Electrodes are filed with a conductive gel and taped to the skin over one small hand muscle to measure the electrical activity of muscles
Transcranial magnetic stimulation A wire coil is held on the scalp A brief electrical current passes through the coil to stimulate the brain During the stimulation the subject may be asked to tense certain muscles slightly or perform other simple actions The stimulation may cause a twitch in muscles of the face arm or leg and the subject may hear a click and feel a pulling sensation on the skin under the coil
Transcranial direct stimulation tDCS before and during motor training Small wet sponge electrodes are applied to the head - one above the eye and the other on the back of the head A small electrical current is passed between them The subject may feel an itching or tingling sensation under the electrodes or see light flashes
Motor learning under tDCS tDCS is repeated while the subject performs the training task The training task consists of performing voluntary brisk thumb movements in a direction opposite to TMS-induced movement directions during 30 minutes Training blocks are in 10-minute segments and tDCS is applied during the first 20 minutes
Behavioral measurements Evaluation of learned movement tasks
Detailed Description:
OBJECTIVES
Training leads to performance improvements and motor learning Cortical plasticity associated with training use-dependent plasticity UDP contributes to performance improvements after brain lesions such as stroke Recently several interventional strategies have been proposed to enhance UDP including pharmacological approaches and brain stimulation The magnitude of improvements identified with these techniques is limited It would be very useful to enhance UDP beyond the limited effects of previously proposed interventions
One strategy recently proposed to enhance the effect of brain stimulation techniques on the cerebral cortex is metaplasticity This strategy focuses on the purposeful manipulation of cortical activity before applying brain stimulation For example previous work demonstrated that the magnitude of increase in cortical excitability elicited by stimulation of the primary motor cortex M1 is more prominent if stimulation is applied on a hypoactive M1 An initial down-regulation of M1 activity i amplifies the effect of a subsequent intervention that increases M1 activity and ii reduces inter-individual variability
It is unknown if this metaplasticity strategy can enhance the beneficial effects of anodal tDCS tDCS anodal on training effects as it does with cortical excitability an issue of scientific and clinical interest and the overall hypothesis of this protocol
Here we will test the hypothesis that metaplasticity tDCS cathodal followed by tDCS anodal plus motor training will result in more prominent UDP than control interventions
STUDY POPULATION
6 healthy adult volunteers for parameters estimation plus 25 healthy adult volunteers total 31 healthy adult volunteers
DESIGN
In this protocol down-regulation of M1 activity will be accomplished by applying tDCS cathodal a tool extensively described in the literature to induce this effect Therefore we will test the effects of this metaplasticity intervention on the beneficial action of tDCS anodal to M1 in combination with motor training MT After a familiarization session subjects will participate in 6 randomized sessions in a cross-over design
1 Preconditioning tDCS cathodal followed by Intervention tDCS anodal plus MT Purpose Target metaplasticity condition
2 Preconditioning Sham followed by Intervention Sham plus MT Purpose Effects of motor training alone
3 Preconditioning Sham followed by Intervention tDCS anodal plus MT Purpose Mild improvement in training effects
4 Preconditioning tDCS cathodal followed by Intervention Sham plus MT Purpose Effects of tDCS cathodal alone on MT
5 Preconditioning tDCS anodal followed by Intervention Sham plus MT Purpose Effects of polarity on tDCS effects
6 Preconditioning tDCS anodal followed by Intervention tDCS anodal plus MT Purpose Control for the metaplasticity condition
MT will consist of brisk repetitive thumb movements in a direction opposite to the baseline direction of thumb movements evoked by focal transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS in a well-characterized UDP protocol
The primary outcome measure reflecting the encoding of a motor memory will be the increased proportion of TMS-evoked movements falling within the target training zone TTZ as a function of MT and metaplasticity interventions
Training leads to performance improvements and motor learning Cortical plasticity associated with training use-dependent plasticity UDP contributes to performance improvements after brain lesions such as stroke Recently several interventional strategies have been proposed to enhance UDP including pharmacological approaches and brain stimulation The magnitude of improvements identified with these techniques is limited It would be very useful to enhance UDP beyond the limited effects of previously proposed interventions
One strategy recently proposed to enhance the effect of brain stimulation techniques on the cerebral cortex is metaplasticity This strategy focuses on the purposeful manipulation of cortical activity before applying brain stimulation For example previous work demonstrated that the magnitude of increase in cortical excitability elicited by stimulation of the primary motor cortex M1 is more prominent if stimulation is applied on a hypoactive M1 An initial down-regulation of M1 activity i amplifies the effect of a subsequent intervention that increases M1 activity and ii reduces inter-individual variability
It is unknown if this metaplasticity strategy can enhance the beneficial effects of anodal tDCS tDCS anodal on training effects as it does with cortical excitability an issue of scientific and clinical interest and the overall hypothesis of this protocol
Here we will test the hypothesis that metaplasticity tDCS cathodal followed by tDCS anodal plus motor training will result in more prominent UDP than control interventions
STUDY POPULATION
6 healthy adult volunteers for parameters estimation plus 25 healthy adult volunteers total 31 healthy adult volunteers
DESIGN
In this protocol down-regulation of M1 activity will be accomplished by applying tDCS cathodal a tool extensively described in the literature to induce this effect Therefore we will test the effects of this metaplasticity intervention on the beneficial action of tDCS anodal to M1 in combination with motor training MT After a familiarization session subjects will participate in 6 randomized sessions in a cross-over design
1 Preconditioning tDCS cathodal followed by Intervention tDCS anodal plus MT Purpose Target metaplasticity condition
2 Preconditioning Sham followed by Intervention Sham plus MT Purpose Effects of motor training alone
3 Preconditioning Sham followed by Intervention tDCS anodal plus MT Purpose Mild improvement in training effects
4 Preconditioning tDCS cathodal followed by Intervention Sham plus MT Purpose Effects of tDCS cathodal alone on MT
5 Preconditioning tDCS anodal followed by Intervention Sham plus MT Purpose Effects of polarity on tDCS effects
6 Preconditioning tDCS anodal followed by Intervention tDCS anodal plus MT Purpose Control for the metaplasticity condition
MT will consist of brisk repetitive thumb movements in a direction opposite to the baseline direction of thumb movements evoked by focal transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS in a well-characterized UDP protocol
The primary outcome measure reflecting the encoding of a motor memory will be the increased proportion of TMS-evoked movements falling within the target training zone TTZ as a function of MT and metaplasticity interventions
Study Oversight
Has Oversight DMC:
None
Is a FDA Regulated Drug?:
None
Is a FDA Regulated Device?:
None
Is an Unapproved Device?:
None
Is a PPSD?:
None
Is a US Export?:
None
Is an FDA AA801 Violation?:
None
Secondary IDs
| Secondary ID | Type | Domain | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06-N-0171 | None | None | None |