Clinical EEG slowing induced by electroconvulsive therapy is better described by increased frontal aperiodic activity.

ABSTRACT: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is one of the most efficacious interventions for treatment-resistant depression. Despite its efficacy, ECT's neural mechanism of action remains unknown. Although ECT has been associated with "slowing" in the electroencephalogram (EEG), how this change relates to clinical improvement is unresolved. Until now, increases in slow-frequency power have been assumed to indicate increases in slow oscillations, without considering the contribution of aperiodic activity, a process with a different physiological mechanism. In this exploratory study of nine MDD patients, we show that aperiodic activity, indexed by the aperiodic exponent, increases with ECT treatment. This increase better explains EEG "slowing" when compared to power in oscillatory peaks in the delta (1-

SUBMITTER: Smith SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10651871 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature