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Cerebellar and Spinal tDCS

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Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Neuropsychiatric Disorders

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Abstract

In the last 5–7 years, cerebellar and spinal DC stimulation received growing attention by experimental and clinical neuroscientists. Although the clinical efficacy of cerebellar and spinal tDCS awaits confirmation in large, clinical, randomized controlled studies, there are now several important key points underlying their mechanisms of action that should be discussed. Briefly, delivering DC currents for few minutes over the cerebellum or spinal cord can induce persistent, polarity-dependent excitability changes persisting several minutes after the current offset. Cerebellar DC stimulation can elicit neurophysiological and behavioral changes both in the motor functions and in cognitive-behavioral domain. Spinal cord DC stimulation elicits not only neurophysiological and behavioral changes related to spinal cord functions, but, interestingly, also changes in the brain functions that may arise from the activation of tonic afferent systems to the brain. Future studies should endeavor to assess whether experimental data translate into benefits in real life, lengthen behavioral benefits, investigate how changing stimulation variables influences tDCS-induced effects, determine possible interactions with other treatments, and improve patients’ selection.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro di Ricerca ‘Aldo Ravelli’ - Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute, Polo Ospedaliero San Paolo, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Roberta Ferrucci, Tommaso Bocci & Alberto Priori

Authors
  1. Roberta Ferrucci
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  2. Tommaso Bocci
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  3. Alberto Priori
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberta Ferrucci .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    André R. Brunoni

  2. Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany

    Michael A. Nitsche

  3. Black Dog Institute & School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Colleen K. Loo

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Ferrucci, R., Bocci, T., Priori, A. (2021). Cerebellar and Spinal tDCS. In: Brunoni, A.R., Nitsche, M.A., Loo, C.K. (eds) Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76136-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76136-3_12

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