Improving Hand Movement Training Through Electrical Stimulation of the Brain
Completed
Conditions studied: Metaplasticity
In brief
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.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT00331318
- Run by
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
- People needed
- 31
- Starts
- 2006-05-24
- Expected to finish
- 2008-04-21
- Last updated by the study team
- 2017-07-02
Who can join
Age: 18 and older, up to 50. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may not qualify if…
- unable to perform the tasks
- history of severe alcohol or drug abuse, psychiatric illness such as severe depression, poor motivational capacity, or severe language disturbances, particularly of receptive nature or with serious cognitive deficits (defined as equivalent to a mini-mental state exam score (MMSE) of 23 or less), or degenerative brain processes such as Alzheimer's disease
- severe uncontrolled medical problems (e.g., cardiovascular disease, severe rheumatoid arthritis, active joint deformity of arthritic origin, active cancer or renal disease, any kind of end-stage pulmonary or cardiovascular disease, or a deteriorated condition due to age, uncontrolled epilepsy or others), more than moderate to severe microangiopathy, polyneuropathy, diabetes mellitus, or ischemic peripheral disease
- problems with movement of the hands
- receiving drugs acting primarily on the central nervous system, which lower the seizure threshold such as antipsychotic drugs (chlorpromazine, clozapine) or tricyclic antidepressants (for the TMS component)
- pregnancy and during lactation
- medical or technical contraindications to MRI procedures or devices producing artifacts that impair MRI signal (e.g., dental braces, pacemakers, implanted medication pumps, cochlear devices, neural stimulators, metal in the cranium, surgical clips, and other metal/magnetic implants, claustrophobia)
Where it is running
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike — Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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