Brains
We use multimodal brain imaging, computational modeling of the electric fields and cognitive measures to uncover the complex effects of transcranial electrical stimulation and their underlying determinants.
Figure 1. (A) Shortened diagram of the prospective CONFESS observational trial illustrating measures included in the current analysis. (B) There was a significant difference in CERAD total scores (z-transformed in order to adjust for age-, sex-, and education-related norms; mean difference in CERAD total score = 0.22, 95%-CI 0.06 to 0.39, P = 0.009), indicating improved cognitive function after spine surgery. (C) Baseline CEN-SAL FC was positively associated with cognitive change as indicated by the CERAD total score difference (standardized beta = 0.36, 95%-CI 0.28 to 0.45, P = 0.033). (D) Overall CEN FC increased from V0 to V3 (mean difference in FC = 0.06, 95%-CI [-0.01, 0.12], P = 0.086). Additional seed-based functional connectivity analyses quantifying FC between ROI pairs within the CEN revealed that the increase of CEN FC was mainly driven by an increased FC between the left dorsolateral cortex and the right posterior parietal cortex (beta = 0.10, T(24) = 2.73, Punc = 0.012, PFDR = 0.035). (E) Change in CEN FC was positively associated with cognitive change in executive functions (standardized beta = 0.34, 95%-CI 0.32 to 0.36, P = 0.034). V0/V3, study visit 0/3. CERAD, Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease. POD, postoperative delirium (1 = yes, 0 = no). rsFC, resting-state functional connectivity. CEN, central executive network; SAL, salience network.
from Antonenko D, Leroy S, Müller J, Behr F, Fromm AE, von Dincklage F, Fleischmann R. Large-scale network mechanisms underlying postoperative cognitive improvement after spine surgery. Int J Surg. 2025 Jan 8. doi: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000002210.
FIGURE 2. MMN can be detected in wet and dry EEG. In panel A, MMN amplitude (deviant – standard tones) in channels FCz (wet EEG) and 3Z (dry EEG) is depicted for wet and dry EEG with a 95% confidence interval. The time window used to determine mean amplitude and used for statistical analyses is indicated by the shaded gray area. In panel B, mean amplitude in response to deviant and standard tones is shown for wet and dry EEG with their distribution displayed by density plots. Scattered dots indicate individual participants, boxplots show the median, first and third quartile, and 1.5 interquartile range. In panel C, topographies of MMN averaged in the time window from 100 to 150 ms are shown for both wet (left) and dry (right) EEG with a red circle marking the channels used for analyses. All data is baseline-corrected with a baseline time window from 100 ms before until stimulus onset. ?V, microvolts. ms, milliseconds. Std, standard tone. Dev, deviant tone. MMN, mismatch negativity.
from Ehrhardt NM, Niehoff C, Oßwald AC, Antonenko D, Lucchese G, Fleischmann R. Comparison of dry and wet electroencephalography for the assessment of cognitive evoked potentials and sensor-level connectivity. Front Neurosci. 2024 Nov 6;18:1441799. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1441799.
Supplementary Figure S5. Illustration of average distributions and standard deviations for each of the electrode configurations for “fixed” current intensity (1 mA) and “individualized” current intensity based on the linear mixed models regressing e-field strength on head circumference.
from Antonenko D, Grittner U, Puonti O, Flöel A, Thielscher A. Estimation of individually induced e-field strength during transcranial electric stimulation using the head circumference. Brain Stimul. 2021 Sep-Oct;14(5):1055-1058. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2021.07.001.