Diminution of training-induced transient motor cortex plasticity by weak transcranial direct current stimulation in the human

Training of a thumb movement in the opposite direction of a twitch in response to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) induces a transient directional change of post-training TMS-evoked movements towards the trained direction. Functional synaptic mechanisms seem to underlie this rapid training-induced plasticity. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) induces outlasting changes of cerebral excitability, thus presenting as promising tool for neuroplasticity research. We studied the influence of tDCS, applied over the motorcortex during training, on angular deviation of post-training to pre-training TMS-evoked thumb movements. With tDCS of anodal and cathodal polarity the training-induced directional change of thumb movements was significantly reduced during a 10 min post-training interval, indicating an interference of tDCS with mechanisms of rapid training-induced plasticity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.