Work

The effects of transcranial random noise stimulation on excitation/inhibition balance in ADHD

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often show aberrant neural activity, including excitation/inhibition (E/I) imbalances, atypical event-related potentials (ERPs), and neural network dysfunction. Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS) has shown promise in modulating neural activity in ADHD. METHODS: The current study examined differences in behavioral and EEG signals recorded during an inhibitory control task in children with (N = 23) and without (N = 33) ADHD. Changes in these signals were further assessed following a combined tRNS and cognitive training intervention targeting the right inferior frontal gyrus and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in a sham-controlled randomized trial within the ADHD group only (n = 11 and 12 for intervention and sham groups, respectively). RESULTS: At baseline, children with ADHD showed slower reaction times, and higher commission error rates compared to healthy controls. Neurally, they exhibited elevated EEG aperiodic exponents, indicating lower E/I balance. Following intervention, we found slower task speed but fewer omission errors in the active compared to the sham group. Regression model showed reduced aperiodic exponents (β = -1.13, t(21) = -2.45, p = 0.023), decreased late ERP-P3b amplitude, and diminished theta and alpha band activity at the cortical level. There was a weaker but still significant reduction in aperiodic exponent values at follow-up compared to immediately post-treatment (β = 0.485, t(63) = 2.182, p = 0.033). CONCLUSION: Aperiodic exponent may serve as a useful indicator of treatment-related neural modulation and may provide complementary information to traditional ERP and event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) measures, warranting further investigation in larger samples.

Source: NeuroImage Clinical

DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2025.103923