Transcranial alternating current stimulation to enhance language abilities

项目总结/摘要 中风是美国成人残疾的主要原因。一种频繁的，使人衰弱的 中风的后果是产生和/或理解语言的能力受损，称为失语症， 这对生活质量产生了深远的影响，因为它对参与专业和 社会日常生活活动。行为干预-目前的标准护理-提供一些好处， 失语症（PWA）的人，但其有效性是可变的，部分原因是后勤和财政限制 使干预具有持久效益所需的频率、强度和持续时间 这对许多PWA来说是不可行的。因此，有必要采取新颖的、具有时间和成本效益的干预措施， 改善失语症恢复。经颅交流电刺激（tACS）已成为一种有前途的 非侵入性脑刺激技术，可能会增强中风相关的残疾（运动障碍）， 其他神经和精神疾病，但改善结果的潜力，特别是语言 目前尚未对减值进行探讨。拟议项目的职业发展和研究计划将 允许候选人作为独立研究者建立T2转化研究计划， 系统地探索tACS提高卒中诱导个体治疗结局的潜力， 语言障碍职业发展计划将有助于扩大候选人的研究计划， 包括对tACS诱导可塑性及其促进语言的潜力的基础和临床研究 未受损和受损的说话者的能力。研究计划为此提供了实证基础 通过研究tACS促进语言的神经生理学机制， 性能增强。本研究的长期目标是开发有效的干预方法 通过结合理论和神经引导干预， 用增强治疗的神经调节技术。这项建议的主要目的是建立一个 使用tACS支持口语产生障碍的最佳实践方法。中央 这一建议假设是tACS可以通过调节内源性调节来增强单词产生能力 与语言相关的神经元激活模式。拟议研究的理由是， 了解语言障碍和tACS诱导的神经元变化的神经生理学生物标志物 激活模式可能有助于确定提高卒中治疗效果的最有效方法 同时扩展我们关于tACS如何调节神经活动的基础科学知识。拟议的研究是 重要的是，它将使干预程序的发展，最大限度地恢复从 获得性语言障碍，结合靶向治疗与tACS，以揭示剩余能力 慢性中风幸存者的神经可塑性。拟议的研究与NIH的使命有关， 发展可能有助于减轻人类残疾负担的基本知识。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Stroke represents the primary cause of adult disability in the United States. A frequent, debilitating consequence of stroke is impairments in the ability to produce and/or comprehend language, called aphasia, which has profound impacts on quality of life due to the barriers it places on participation in professional and social daily life activities. Behavioral intervention—the current standard-of-care—provide some benefit for persons with aphasia (PWA), but their effectiveness is variable due in part to logistic and financial limitations that render interventions with the level of frequency, intensity, and duration required for lasting benefits infeasible for many PWA. Thus, there is a need for novel, time- and cost-effective interventions to expedite and improve aphasia recovery. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has emerged as a promising noninvasive brain stimulation technique that may enhance stroke-related disability (motor impairments) and other neurological and psychiatric disorders, but the potential for improving outcomes specifically for language impairment has not yet been explored. The career development and research plans of the proposed project will allow the candidate to establish a T2 translational research program as an independent investigator to systematically explore the potential for tACS to enhance treatment outcomes in individuals with stroke-induced language impairment. The career development plan will help expand the candidate’s research program to include basic and clinical investigations of tACS-induced plasticity and its potential to facilitate language abilities in unimpaired and impaired speakers. The research plan provides an empirical foundation for this research program by investigating the neurophysiological mechanism by which tACS promotes language performance enhancement. The long-term goal of this research is to develop effective intervention approaches for individuals with acquired language impairment by combining theoretically- and neurally-guided intervention with treatment-enhancing neuromodulation techniques. The main objective of this proposal is to establish a best-practice approach for using tACS to support impairments in spoken word production. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that tACS can enhance word production abilities by modulating endogenous neuronal activation patterns associated with language. The rationale for the proposed research is that understanding neurophysiological biomarkers of language impairment and tACS-induced changes in neuronal pattens of activation may help determine the most effective approach to enhancing stroke treatment outcomes while extending our basic science knowledge of how tACS modulates neural activity. The proposed research is significant because it will enable the development of intervention procedures that maximize recovery from acquired language impairment, combining targeted therapy with tACS to unmask the residual capacity neuroplasticity in chronic stroke survivors. The proposed research is relevant to the NIH’s mission pertaining to developing fundamental knowledge that will potentially help to reduce the burdens of human disability.