A recent paper published in the scientific journal Cell Reports Medicine has shown that a type of non-invasive brain stimulation called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) provides benefits to people with SCA3. tACS is a procedure that applies alternating electrical currents to a person’s scalp, creating an electric field in the brain that modulates brain activity.
A trial conducted in China has shown that tACS that targets neurons in the brain region called the cerebellum, which are damaged in SCA3, improves symptoms of ataxia in people with SCA3. They found that tACS can improve cerebellar motor function and clinical rating scores, and is a safe and effective approach with no adverse effects noted so far. The research suggests that tACS may be a potential treatment for cerebellar diseases.
In this study, the researchers carried out what is known as a randomised controlled trial, where of the total 82 study participants, half were randomly allocated to receive a 40-minute tACS session daily and half were randomly allocated to receive a daily 40-minute fake ‘sham’ tACS procedure over a 2-week period.
The group given tACS showed significantly reduced the Scale for Rating of Ataxia (SARA) scores in participants with SCA3, which is the primary clinical scale used to measure the severity of ataxia. The larger the score, the more severe ataxia symptoms are.
tACS led to improved motor functions (such as tandem walking and standing upright), in SCA3, as shown by a type of brain imaging called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). fMRI measures brain activity by measuring changes in blood flow to different regions of the brain, and can identify areas of the brain that are more active during specific tasks or in response to different stimuli.
This research highlights the potential for use of the non-invasive brain stimulation approach tACS in people with SCA3. Whilst this study included a large number of people with SCA3, it was based at only one centre, meaning the study results would need to be captured across a number of different centres in different countries to verify its benefit across a wide range of people with SCA3. In the future, long-term, regular, home-based tACS treatment might be a beneficial form of rehabilitation in people with SCA3.
Read the paper here.
Read about the trial on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Read our magazine article (issue 223, page 9) on the positive results of a trial that Ataxia UK previously funded using another type of non-invasive brain stimulation called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in SCA and Friedreich’s ataxia, which was led by Dr Borroni at the University of Brescia, Italy.
