Effects of cerebellar tDCS on glycometabolic control

Background and aims: The cerebellum is involved in motor, cognitive and glycometabolic control, as well as being a key structure in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease and psychiatric pathologies. It has been shown that cerebellar functions can be modulated by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The present research aims to study the effects of cerebellar tDCS on glycometabolic variable/glucose.

Methods: 14 healthy subject were recruited (6 Female; aged 25-55). We delivered cerebellar anodal, cathodal (2 mA, 20 minutes) and sham tDCS, in three separate sessions at intervals of at least 1 week. In each session, glucose was evaluated before (baseline T0), during (online: after 10 minutes T1, after 20 minutes T2) and 10 minutes after the end of the tDCS (T3), using a self-monitoring glucose sensor system.

Results: Anodal cerebellar tDCS significantly decreased glucose scores by about 2.57% at T1 [(mean±SD) T0 vs T1: 79.96±16 vs 77.90±13.47; p=0.04] while cathodal and sham cerebellar stimulation left it unchanged (p>0.05).

Conclusion: These results suggest that anodal cerebellar tDCS can reduce glucose in healthy subjects, thus arguing for a role of the cerebellum in glycometabolic process. Besides helping to understand the glucose processing, the possibility of modulating glucose by cerebellar tDCS might be relevant for developing novel therapeutic approaches to treat diabetic patients.