Modulating food craving-related neural oscillations using tACS: study protocol for a randomized sham-controlled trial.

Introduction: Food addiction is characterized by heightened craving and impaired inhibitory control, contributing to compulsive eating and obesity. Existing behavioral and pharmacological interventions often fail to achieve lasting effects. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), by modulating neural oscillations and connectivity, offers a novel, non-invasive approach for regulating craving-related neural circuits.

Cerebral plasticity: Windows of opportunity in the developing brain.

Background: Neuroplasticity refers to the inherently dynamic biological capacity of the central nervous system (CNS) to undergo maturation, change structurally and functionally in response to experience and to adapt following injury. This malleability is achieved by modulating subsets of genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms that influence the dynamics of synaptic connections and neural circuitry formation culminating in gain or loss of behavior or function. Neuroplasticity in the healthy developing brain exhibits a heterochronus cortex-specific developmental profile and is heightened during "critical and sensitive periods" of pre and postnatal brain development that enable the construction and consolidation of experience-dependent structural and functional brain connections.