Electrical shocks to brain boost learning, improve depression symptoms

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We might finally be figuring out how an increasingly popular therapy that uses electricity to boost the brain’s functioning has its effects – by pushing up levels of calcium in cells.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) involves using electrodes to send a weak current across the brain. Stimulating brain tissue like this has been linked to effects ranging from accelerating learning to improving the symptoms of depression and faster recovery from strokes. The broad consensus is that tDCS does this by lowering the threshold at which neurons fire, making it easier for them to pass on electrical signals. This leads to changes in the connectivity between neurons and alters information processing.

But the cellular mechanisms that lead to such broad neurological changes are not clear and some researchers suggest that tDCS may not have any effect on the brain. Despite the doubts, devices are being developed for sale to people keen to influence their own brains.

Now Hajime Hirase at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Tokyo, Japan, and his colleagues may have found an answer. They have identified large, sudden surges in calcium flow in the brains of mice seconds after they receive low doses of tDCS. These surges seem to start in cells called astrocytes – star-shaped cells that don’t fire themselves, but help to strengthen the connections between neurons and regulate the electrical signals that pass between them.

Read full, original post: Brain-shocking therapy may work by boosting calcium in the brain

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