The Effect of tDCS Applied During Sleep on Memory Consolidation

NCT ID: NCT02596568

Last Updated: 2023-03-30

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 14 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2013-01-31
• Study Completion Date: 2013-11-30

Brief Summary

This study will attempt to use a type of non-invasive brain stimulation technology during sleep to improve measures of sleep quality and memory in young healthy students and older adults. The type of brain stimulation is called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which uses small currents of electricity to increase or decrease the activity of specific areas of the brain.

Detailed Description

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe, non-invasive, and inexpensive brain stimulation modality that has been shown to have the ability to modulate both cortical and deep brain structure activity. This technique has undergone a significant amount of investigation in varied neuropsychiatric populations and interest in this technique has increased dramatically as of late.

Some researchers have studied the effects of this modality on sleep as well as memory with promising results. One such study demonstrated that by using bilateral tDCS with a pattern of stimulation in the delta frequency range (0-3 Hz) delivered during slow wave sleep, that it is possible to increase delta power during slow wave sleep, as well as improve sleep efficiency. In addition to showing that it is possible to enhance slow waves, it was also demonstrated that this increase was associated with an improvement of a measure of declarative memory consolidation (one of the theorized functions of slow wave sleep). Enhancing memory function in a normal healthy group raises the possibility that it would also be possible to enhance memory in clinical populations who would benefit from such an intervention.

The investigators propose to test this intervention for replication in a similar cohort.

Conditions

Sleep

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Active tDCS stimulation

Anodal tDCS will be applied bi-frontally using Chattanooga Ionto™ Iontophoresis System - Phoresor. A square wave will be delivered at 0.75 Hz for five blocks of five minutes each with one minute inter-train interval. Stimulation will be applied following 8 epochs of consecutive stage 2 or deeper sleep.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Intervention Type: DEVICE

tDCS is a type of brain stimulation that uses low current applied directly over the scalp to increase, or decrease cortical activity under the stimulating electrodes. tDCS applied bi-frontally using Chattanooga Ionto™ Iontophoresis System - Phoresor. A square wave will be delivered at 0.75 Hz for five blocks of five minutes each with one minute inter-train interval. Stimulation will be applied following 8 epochs of consecutive stage 2 or deeper sleep.

Sham tDCS stimulation

tDCS electrodes will be applied bi-frontally using Chattanooga Ionto™ Iontophoresis System - Phoresor, however stimulation will never be turned on.

Group Type: SHAM_COMPARATOR

Sham

Intervention Type: OTHER

tDCS device connected and tested, but not turned on during the night. This has been found to be an effective sham in other studies using this technique.

Interventions

transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

tDCS is a type of brain stimulation that uses low current applied directly over the scalp to increase, or decrease cortical activity under the stimulating electrodes. tDCS applied bi-frontally using Chattanooga Ionto™ Iontophoresis System - Phoresor. A square wave will be delivered at 0.75 Hz for five blocks of five minutes each with one minute inter-train interval. Stimulation will be applied following 8 epochs of consecutive stage 2 or deeper sleep.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Sham

tDCS device connected and tested, but not turned on during the night. This has been found to be an effective sham in other studies using this technique.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Students
• Adults aged 60 or greater.

Exclusion Criteria

• If they are taking any prescription or over the counter medications.
• If they have any currently active neurologic, psychiatric, hormonal, metabolic, circulatory, or sleep disturbances. -They must specifically not have a history of seizures, closed head injuries with loss of consciousness for greater than 5 minutes, any known brain tumors or lesions, metal implants or implanted devices above the neck, a history of eczema, or other sensitive conditions, or an allergy to latex.
• They must not smoke cigarettes, use illicit drugs, or meet criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence in their lifetime defined by SCID criteria.
• They must be free of alcohol for at least 48 hours prior to each night of the study
• They must not consume more than the equivalent of 500mg of caffeine daily.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 60 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Medical University of South Carolina

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Gregory Sahlem, M.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Medical University of South Carolina

Locations

Medical University of South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

Pro00020393

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id