Set-shift behavioral results and further outcomes of stimulation. (A) Probability of error based on the current variant of the Side rule (left/right nose poke port). There was no significant difference between the two rules (β = -0.006, p = 0.15), demonstrating that as a group, rats did not have a bias for a particular side of the chamber. (B) RT based on the current variant of the Side rule (left/right), again showing no significant difference (β = -0.033, p = 0.18). (C) Distributions of accuracy as a function of stimulation type, expressed as a percent change from stimulation-OFF. Distributions are computed over rats; each dot shows the median for one rat. As with the total number of errors reported in the main text, there was no significant difference for any group (lowest p-value, p = 0.15 for Stim_ON:Site_dorsomedial), although mid and dorsomedial striatal stimulation did cause a non-significant improvement. (D) Distributions of the total time to finish the task as a function of stimulation type, again showing no significant change for any stimulation location (p = 1.00 for all sites). (E) Individual absolute change in RT for each rat receiving mid-striatal stimulation, expressed as the median RT over all stimulation ON or stimulation OFF testing sessions. For 6/8 rats, this shows a decrease. (F) Distributions of RT for sham (gray) and mid-striatal (yellow) stimulation over sessions, relative to the median stimulation OFF value for each animal. Each dot shows an individual session. The dashed gray line extending into the stimulation side shows the line of no effect. 80.7% of the individual mid-striatal stimulation sessions fall below this line. Credit: Science Translational Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adp1723
University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have uncovered important insights that could improve how mental health conditions are treated with brain stimulation therapy—a treatment where electrical signals are used to stimulate specific parts of the brain.
Published in Science Translational Medicinethe research The team developed a preclinical model of human brain stimulation therapy and found that this therapy works by enhancing the brain’s ability to process conflicting pieces of evidence—thus improving human cognition by making people more flexible in their decision-making.
Lack of flexibility is a major factor in multiple mental health conditions, including depression, ADHD and addiction. Treatments to improve flexibility have traditionally been difficult to develop because of the lack of preclinical models. This new model directly pulls from work the team had previously conducted which demonstrated its effectiveness on humans, and now will help them understand why and how brain stimulation works. They intend to use those insights to discover treatments that work more reliably and help more patients.
“This work is a true translational story. We found an effect in humans, developed a preclinical model and then showed that the learnings from that model actually tell us how a human clinical intervention works,” said Alik Widge, MD, Ph.D. , an associate professor at the U of M Medical School and psychiatrist with M Physicians. “Now, we’re working to build a clinical trial around this idea of enhancing decisional flexibility. If we’re right, that could be transformative for a wide range of disorders, from depression to addiction to PTSD and maybe even autism.”
The research team hopes to move this work into clinical trials within the next two years.
More information:
Adriano E. Reimer et al, Striatal stimulation enhances cognitive control and evidence processing in rodents and humans, Science Translational Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adp1723
Citation: New study reveals how brain stimulation improves cognition, decision-making in mental health disorders (2024, December 19) retrieved 20 December 2024 from
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