经颅直流电刺激在轻度认知障碍干预中的研究进展

The research progress of transcranial direct current stimulation in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment

轻度认知障碍(mild cognitive impairment,MCI)是阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer’s disease,AD)的临床前阶段。近年来,经颅直流电刺激(transcranial direct current stimulation,tDCS)作为一种神经调控技术越来越多地被应用于MCI的认知干预,但其效果因受到诸多因素的影响而存在争议。为了更好地推动tDCS在MCI领域的应用,本文对以往采用tDCS对MCI个体实施干预的研究进行系统综述,梳理了MCI的tDCS干预效果及其影响因素。结果表明,tDCS能够在一定程度上改善MCI个体的情景记忆、工作记忆和语言功能,但对于注意功能的干预效果仍缺乏足够的证据支持。刺激靶点、干预疗程、电流强度等因素对干预效果均有影响。未来研究应基于认知过程的脑网络基础,并兼顾年龄和受教育水平等个性化因素,来设计更为合理的tDCS干预方案,同时结合神经成像技术以更为全面准确地评估干预效果,并揭示tDCS干预的神经基础。

Mild cognitive impairment(MCI)is a pre-clinical stage of Alzheimer's disease(AD).In recent years,transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS),as a neuromodulation technique,has being applied in the field of cognitive intervention for MCI,but its effect is controversial because of many factors.In order to promote the application of tDCS in intervention for MCI,this study performed a systematic review of the previous studies that used tDCS to improve cognitive functions of MCI individuals.The results indicate that tDCS could improve episodic memory,working memory,and language of individuals with MCI,while there is a lack of strong evidence that supports a positive effect of tDCS on attention of individuals with MCI.The placement of electrodes,time course of treatment,and current intensity all affected the intervention effect of tDCS.Future studies should take brain networks underlying cognitive processes and personalized factors such as age and education level into consideration to design better stimulation protocols,and they should be conducted in combination with neuroimaging technologies to evaluate the intervention effect of tDCS more accurately and objectively and to discover the neural mechanisms of tDCS intervention.