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Developing Brain Imaging Analysis Expertise for Personalizing Transcranial Electric Stimulation in Anhedonia Treatment of Patients With Bipolar Depression

Who can join

Ages 18 to 50 · All sexes

Inclusion Criteria:

* diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder and clinically significant anhedonia
* mild symptoms of depression

Exclusion Criteria:

* substance abuse/dependence and any use of drugs (except alcohol or nicotine) in the previous month of the baseline assessment
* participants with personality disorder that would interfere with study participation according to clinical judgment
* previous neurological conditions (epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke, etc)
* any severe, life-threatening non-psychiatric medical condition
* specific contraindications for tDCS (metallic plates in the head)
* Participants identified as acutely suicidal or severely agitated

About the study

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) will engage reward-related brain circuitry, more specifically the uncinate fasciculus (UF) tract, which connects the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) regions. Also to evaluate whether the changes in the fractional anisotropy (FA) of the UF tract are associated with changes of clinical symptoms of anhedonia and finally to investigate the moderation role of simulated electric fields (EFs) in an association between FA of the UF and symptoms of anhedonia.

What is being tested

• active tDCS (device)
• sham tDCS (device)

Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston · Participants: 45 · Started: Oct 6, 2022

Contact the study team

• Jair C Soares, MD,PhD · Phone: (713) 486-6663
• Alexandre P Diaz, MD,PhD · Phone: (713) 486-6663

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT05240352

Locations in the U.S.

Conditions

• Anhedonia
• Bipolar Disorder

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.