Neurobiological correlates and translational implications of neuromodulation in OCD:A high definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tdcs) study

Obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) is a common anddebilitating neuropsychiatric disorder. The proposedresearch aims to examine the effect of anodal right pre-supplementary motorarea(pre-SMA) high definition transcranial direct current stimulation(HD-tDCS)on neurocognitive functions, and respective physiological correlates inpatients with OCD who have persistent symptomsdespite being on adequate treatment with medications. Task-relatedphysiological alterations is proposed to be examined through comprehensiveassessment of neurohemodynamic and electrophysiological changes pertaining to thekey neurocognitive functions coupled with the assessment of neurochemicalalterations(glutamate and N-acetyl aspartate) in pre-SMA before and after 10 days ofHD-tDCS sessions (conducted 2 sessions per day) using a randomised sham controlled design. Following the RCT phase those patients who have only <25% improvement will be offered an open label extension phase for addition 10 days. The translational implication is to evaluate novel treatment options for OCD patients who do not respond to conventional treatment options and to understand the mechanistic basis for the brain stimulation method.