Direct Current Stimulation Improves Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
A new double-blind, randomized clinical trial has shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can reduce negative symptoms of schizophrenia. TDCS, a treatment in which an anode and a cathode electrode placed on the skull are used to apply a steady, low-level current of electricity to the brain, has been shown to improve neuroplasticity, such as neuronal remodeling, by depolarizing or hyperpolarizing neurons. People with schizophrenia have neuroplasticity deficits in parts of the cortex, so a few case reports and one previous randomized clinical trial have explored the use of tDCS in schizophrenia.
The current study, presented by Ulrich Palm at the 2015 meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, included 20 patients with primarily negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as thought disorders, poverty of speech, and withdrawal. The patients, who had stable medication regimes for at least three weeks, were randomized to receive either a sham procedure or tDCS with the anode over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the cathode over the right eye. TDCS stimulation was delivered at a current of 2 mA ten times over two weeks. The patients continued to take their medication and also received functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) before and after tDCS treatment.
Two weeks following the stimulation, scores on a scale of positive symptoms (hallucinations and delusions) and negative symptoms of schizophrenia had decreased significantly in those who received tDCS compared to the sham procedure. A measure of negative symptoms was significantly lower among the tDCS group throughout the study period and at the 2-week followup. The fcMRI revealed that those who received tDCS had a deactivated cluster in the brain region that includes the nucleus accumbens, the subgenual cortex, and the striatum.
This study suggests that tDCS is a promising treatment for otherwise difficult-to-treat symptoms of schizophrenia.
