{"doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2023.09.017","title":"Transcranial direct current stimulation to the left angular gyrus improves verbal learning in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: A case report","abstract":"Here we report the behavioral and neuroimaging outcomes of a novel transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) treatment of a participant with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Almost all non-invasive neuromodulation studies on aMCI or Alzheimer's Disease (AD) to date targeted the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, see recent reviews of [1Sandrini M. Manenti R. Sahin H. Cotelli M. Effects of transcranial electrical stimulation on episodic memory in physiological and pathological ageing.Ageing Res Rev. 2020; 61101065https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2020.101065Crossref PubMed Scopus (14) Google Scholar,2da Silva E.R. Rodrigues Menezes I.R. Brys I. Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on memory of elderly people with mild cognitive impairment or alzheimer's disease: a systematic review.J Cent Nerv Syst Dis. 2022; 14117957352211068https://doi.org/10.1177/11795735221106887Crossref PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar]), a region that is part of the Frontoparietal Central Executive Network. Meanwhile, dysfunction of the default-mode network (DMN), including reduced metabolism and connectivity, has been increasingly recognized as another hallmark of AD pathology besides hippocampal atrophy [3Jones D.T. MacHulda M.M. Vemuri P. McDade E.M. Zeng G. Senjem M.L. Gunter J.L. Przybelski S.A. Avula R.T. Knopman D.S. Boeve B.F. Petersen R.C. Jack C.R. Age-related changes in the default mode network are more advanced in Alzheimer disease.Neurology. 2011; 77: 1524-1531https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e318233b33dCrossref PubMed Scopus (292) Google Scholar,4Buckner R.L. Sepulcre J. Talukdar T. Krienen F.M. Liu H. Hedden T. Andrews-Hanna J.R. Sperling R.A. Johnson K.A. Cortical hubs revealed by intrinsic functional connectivity: mapping, assessment of stability, and relation to Alzheimer's disease.J Neurosci. 2009; 29: 1860-1873https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5062-08.2009Crossref PubMed Scopus (2293) Google Scholar]. Here we used a novel montage that targeted the lateral parietal component of the DMN, the left angular gyrus (L_AG), combined with verbal learning treatment. Previously, we found that the metabolism of the L_AG was associated with verbal learning capacity in neurodegeneration [5Afthinos A. Themistocleous C. Herrmann O. Fan H. Lu H. Tsapkini K. The contribution of working memory areas to verbal learning and recall in primary progressive aphasia.Front Neurol. 2022; 13: 1-11https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.698200Crossref Scopus (3) Google Scholar]. Interestingly, the L_AG has been found to play a role at the intersection between semantic and episodic memory [6Renoult L. Irish M. Moscovitch M. Rugg M.D. From knowing to remembering: the semantic–episodic distinction.Trends Cognit Sci. 2019; 23: 1041-1057https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2019.09.008Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (163) Google Scholar]. For instance, it is found to represent the knowledge of event concepts like “birthday party” which not only includes semantic knowledge of concrete objects like “cake” and event concepts like “party”, but also involves many episodic memories [7Binder J.R. Desai R.H. The neurobiology of semantic memory.Trends Cognit Sci. 2011; 15: 527-536https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.10.001Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1310) Google Scholar]. The unique functional role of the L_AG may be attributed to that it is not only part of the DMN, which often also includes the hippocampus and is involved in manipulating internal thoughts and important for episodic and autobiography memory [8Buckner R.L. Andrews-Hanna J.R. Schacter D.L. The brain's default network.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008; 1124: 1-38https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1440.011Crossref PubMed Scopus (7588) Google Scholar], but also a key node of the semantic system [7Binder J.R. Desai R.H. The neurobiology of semantic memory.Trends Cognit Sci. 2011; 15: 527-536https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.10.001Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (","journal":"Brain stimulation","year":2023,"id":383756,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9607,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":312564,"name":"Alexandros Afthinos","orcid":"0000-0001-6906-0771","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1150813,"name":"Jessica Gallegos","orcid":"0009-0006-3630-2942","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":571279,"name":"Olivia Herrmann","orcid":"0009-0001-8395-8307","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":424488,"name":"Constantine Frangakis","orcid":"0000-0002-6932-0614","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":354224,"name":"Kyrana Tsapkini","orcid":"0000-0001-6020-5532","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":354222,"name":"Yuan Tao","orcid":"0000-0002-2010-8380","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":12,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:17:29.050285Z","pmid":"37769988","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}