Probing TBS-induced Neural Plasticity and Associated Effects on Learning

Healthy Clinical Trial

Official title:

Probing TBS-induced Neural Plasticity and Associated Effects on Learning

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03756584
• Other study ID #: 1-ZVN9
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: March 3, 2019
• Est. completion date: December 3, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: August 2021
• Source: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Recent animal research indicates that excitatory brain stimulation opens a time window of increased neural plasticity that permits remodeling of neural representations. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may thus facilitate learning of new associations by reducing proactive interference but human research is missing. Therefore, it is the aim of this study to investigate the effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), a potent form of excitatory brain stimulation, on associative memory. Twenty right handed healthy participants will receive 3 minutes of iTBS or sham stimulation of the left lateral parietal cortex after memorizing a set of 20 face-word associations. Recall capacity will be tested directly before and after stimulation. Participants will then learn a new combination of associations using the same set of stimuli, followed by an evaluation of their recall capacity. It is hypothesized that iTBS compared to sham stimulation will reduce recall capacity directly after the stimulation but increase recall capacity of the newly learned associations due to reduced proactive interference. This study may not only pave the way towards a new understanding of the mechanism of action of brain stimulation, but can also help in developing new treatment strategies for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 75
• Est. completion date: December 3, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: December 3, 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 35 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• education level of primary six or above

• right-handedness

• normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion Criteria:

• seizures in medical history

• current or past psychiatric disorders or severe internal or neurological illness

• common TMS exclusion criteria

• substance abuse or dependence

• intake of medication that is known to affect the excitation threshold

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Healthy

Intervention

Device:
• Theta-burst stimulation
iTBS comprises 3-pulse 50-Hz bursts, applied every 200 ms (at 5 Hz) as described previously (Huang, Edwards et al. 2005) and consists of 2-second trains with an inter-train-interval of 8 seconds. We will repeat trains (30 pulses; 10 bursts) for 20 times to reach a total number of 600 pulses per session (3x10x20)

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Hong Kong	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Dr Georg Kranz

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Hong Kong, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in recall capacity	Change in the number of correct associations of a face-word association memory test	Change from baseline to directly after stimulation (~6 min after baseline)