The Effect of tDCS Applied During Sleep on Memory Consolidation

NCT02596568 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Pro00020393
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 14
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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.

Conditions

Sleep

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Declarative memory assessed by paired word association test

  Prior to and directly after a night of sleep we will assess declarative memory using a paired word association tests. In the pre-sleep assessment there will be a learning phase where the word list will be presented serially, until 60% of the words are retained. In the post sleep assessment the word list will be given again once. The outcome measure is the change in words retained between pre and post sleep assessments. Subsequently the followup interval is approximately 8-9 hours with baseline before bedtime, and follow up assessment once the patient is awoken.

  Pre sleep/intervention, and post sleep/intervention

Study Arms (2)

Active tDCS stimulation

EXPERIMENTAL

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.

Device: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Sham tDCS stimulation

SHAM COMPARATOR

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

Other: Sham

Interventions

transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) 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.

Active tDCS stimulation

Sham 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.

Sham tDCS stimulation

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 60 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Students
• Adults aged 60 or greater.

You may not qualify if:

• 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.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Medical University of South Carolina: lead

Study Sites (1)

Medical University of South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina, 29425, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; salicylhydroxamic acid

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Electric Stimulation Therapy; Therapeutics; Convulsive Therapy; Psychiatric Somatic Therapies; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Electroshock; Psychological Techniques

Study Officials

• Gregory Sahlem, M.D.

  Medical University of South Carolina

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 13, 2014
• First Posted: November 4, 2015
• Study Start: January 1, 2013
• Primary Completion: November 1, 2013
• Study Completion: November 1, 2013
• Last Updated: March 30, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-03

Locations

US (1)