Transcranial direct current stimulation treated bymultileadbrain reflex instrument accelerates neural functional recovery in a rat model of stroke.

Clinical research suggests that transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS) at bilateral supraorbital foramen and inferior orbital rim and nose intersectionsmay facilitate rehabilitation after stroke.However,the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of tDCSremain poorly understood, impeding its clinical application. Here we investigated the effect oftDCS applied after stroke on neural cells.Middle cerebral arterial occlusion(MCAO) reperfusion was induced in rats.Animals with comparable infarcts were randomly divided intoMCAO group andMCAO + tDCS group.Recovery of neurological function was assessed behaviorally by modifiedneurological severity score (mNSS). Ischemic tissue damage verified histologically by TTC and HE staining. Immunohistochemicalstaining,real-time qPCRand western blot were applied to determine the changes ofneuralcells in ischemic brains.The results reveal that tDCStreated by multilead brain reflex instrumentcanpromotethe recovery of neurological function, remarkably reduce cerebral infarctvolume,promotebrain tissue rehabilitation, and can effectively inhibit astrocytosis and enhance neuronal survival and synaptic function in ischemic brains. Our study suggests that tDCStreated by multilead brain reflex instrument could be prospectively developed into a clinical treatment modality.