PMID- 24398720 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20141114 LR - 20140305 IS - 1878-3627 (Electronic) IS - 0922-6028 (Linking) VI - 32 IP - 2 DP - 2014 TI - Bihemispheric tDCS enhances language recovery but does not alter BDNF levels in chronic aphasic patients. PG - 367-79 LID - 10.3233/RNN-130323 [doi] AB - PURPOSE: Several studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a useful tool to enhance language recovery in aphasia. It has also been suggested that modulation of the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) might be part of the mechanisms involved in tDCS effects on synaptic connectivity. However, all language studies have previously investigated the effects using unihemispheric stimulation. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of bihemispheric tDCS on language recovery and BDNF serum levels. METHODS: Seven aphasic persons underwent an intensive language therapy in two different conditions: real bihemispheric stimulation over the left and right Broca's areas and a sham condition. RESULTS: After the stimulation, patients exibited a significant recovery in three language tasks (picture description, noun and verb naming) compared to the sham condition which persisted in the follow-up session. No significant differences were found in BDNF serum levels after tDCS stimulation and in the follow-up session. However, a significant positive correlation was present for the real stimulation condition between percent changes in BDNF levels and in the verb naming task. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that this novel approach may potentiate the recovery of language in chronic aphasia. They also emphasize the importance to further investigate the role of possible biomarkers associated with tDCS treatment response in language recovery. FAU - Marangolo, Paola AU - Marangolo P AD - Facolta di Medicina, Universita Politecnica Marche, Ancona, Italy IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy. FAU - Fiori, Valentina AU - Fiori V AD - IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy. FAU - Gelfo, Francesca AU - Gelfo F AD - IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy Dipartimento di Medicina dei Sistemi, Universita degli studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", Roma, Italy. FAU - Shofany, Jacob AU - Shofany J AD - IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy. FAU - Razzano, Carmelina AU - Razzano C AD - IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy. FAU - Caltagirone, Carlo AU - Caltagirone C AD - IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy Dipartimento di Medicina dei Sistemi, Universita degli studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", Roma, Italy. FAU - Angelucci, Francesco AU - Angelucci F AD - IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PL - Netherlands TA - Restor Neurol Neurosci JT - Restorative neurology and neuroscience JID - 9005499 RN - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) SB - IM MH - Aged MH - Aphasia/blood/etiology/*therapy MH - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*blood MH - Chronic Disease MH - *Electric Stimulation Therapy MH - Female MH - Humans MH - *Language MH - Male MH - Middle Aged MH - Neuropsychological Tests MH - Reaction Time MH - Recovery of Function/physiology MH - Stroke/complications OTO - NOTNLM OT - Aphasia OT - BDNF OT - Broca's area OT - bihemispheric tDCS OT - language recovery EDAT- 2014/01/09 06:00 MHDA- 2014/11/15 06:00 CRDT- 2014/01/09 06:00 PHST- 2014/01/09 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2014/01/09 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2014/11/15 06:00 [medline] AID - P61X79410854TL40 [pii] AID - 10.3233/RNN-130323 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2014;32(2):367-79. doi: 10.3233/RNN-130323.