Neural Noise

Non-invasive brain stimulation: current and future applications in neurology

2 min read

  • A Nature review (September 2025) covers non-invasive brain stimulation (tDCS, tACS) current and future applications in neurology.
  • The review is high source quality and informs neuromodulation and therapeutic BCI-adjacent applications (tier-1). 1

Gardner updates

  • A Nature review covered current and future applications of non-invasive brain stimulation (e.g. tDCS, tACS) in neurology. 1

Weekly enrichment (2026-07-20)

  • The review is Rektorová, Pupíková, Fleury, Brabenec & Hummel, “Non-invasive brain stimulation: current and future applications in neurology,” Nature Reviews Neurology 2025;21(12):669–686 (published online 16 September 2025; PMID 40957931).2 3
  • It focuses on two device-based non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) families that dominate clinical use and randomized trials: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), the latter including transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS).2 3
  • The clinical scope covers disorders characterized by disruption of large-scale brain networks, including neurodegenerative diseases and brain-lesion disorders such as stroke and traumatic brain injury, with the goal of enhancing cognitive and motor function and promoting recovery.2 3
  • For Alzheimer disease, the authors note that rTMS and tES typically target the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or default-mode network hubs such as the precuneus, and that accelerated rTMS protocols are feasible and well tolerated, producing clinically meaningful cognitive benefits.2
  • The review rates NIBS as only “probably effective” for enhancing global cognition, cautioning that observed effects remain modest even with intensive multiweek stimulation protocols.2
  • The authors highlight methodological limitations that make firm conclusions difficult: small sample sizes, heterogeneous patient populations and wide variation in stimulation protocols.2 3
  • They frame the field as evolving from state-dependent, network-informed, multifocal and subcortical paradigms toward individualized electric-field modelling and accelerated protocols, and call for adaptive, biomarker-driven (closed-loop) protocols that optimize target engagement, dosing and timing per patient.2 3
  • A related growth area for BCI-adjacent neuromodulation is non-invasive stimulation of deep brain structures via transcranial temporal interference stimulation (tTIS), which uses interfering high-frequency fields to focally modulate regions such as the hippocampus or striatum while sparing overlying cortex.4

Footnotes

  1. https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiX0FVX3lxTE9WZk5aRm9yd1RLSlJxMTA3ckFUYzJCa0NJMWlzVmc0SjhhMHlRanlUeHloTkRwZXhNdzdETWtYc0c3SUNudFJFdjVGR2k1Wk5zSTFqTEVpNFFsdXpOWF8w?oc=5 ↩ ↩2

  2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-025-01137-z ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40957931/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2025.1661049/full ↩

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