Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2014 Jan-Feb;7(1):92-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2013.08.004. Epub 2013 Sep 13.

Safety of 5 kHz tACS

Leila Chaieb  1 , Andrea Antal  2 , Alberto Pisoni  3 , Catarina Saiote  4 , Alexander Opitz  4 , Géza Gergely Ambrus  5 , Niels Focke  4 , Walter Paulus  4
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Safety of 5 kHz tACS

Leila Chaieb et al. Brain Stimul. 2014 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Background: Sinusoidal transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 5 kHz applied for 10 min at 1 mA intensity over the hand area of the primary motor cortex (M1) results in sustained changes in cortical excitability as previously demonstrated.

Objective: Here we have assessed safety aspects of this stimulation method by measuring neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels, examining electroencephalogram (EEG) traces and analyzing anatomical data by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: Altogether 18 healthy volunteers participated in the study. tACS was applied at 5 kHz for a duration of 10 min over the left M1 at an intensity of 1 mA.

Results: After stimulation no significant changes were detected in NSE levels, no structural alterations were observed in the anatomical scans and no pathological changes were found in the EEG recordings.

Conclusions: Our data imply that the application of tACS is safe at least within these parameters and with these applied protocols.

Keywords: Alternating current stimulation; Human; M1; Side effects.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources