Can the Arduino deliver direct current for muscle and nerve stimulation?

Projects General Guidance
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I am currently interested in Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), and I have observed that most studies in the field utilize DC-Stimulation equipment from manufacturers like NeuroConn and RogueResolutions that appear to be embedded analog systems.

I am curious to know whether a similar application can be implemented using an Arduino or a BeagleBoard platform. It seems to me that using software to control the waveforms, and ramp-up and ramp-down ought to be a more robust and potentially safer approach than an embedded black box.

I am unfortunately rather uneducated in electronics, so I am looking for a remedial explanation and even some direction on what to read next.

In case it would help to provide context, here are two useful articles to describe the nature of the currents used in tDCS therapies: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3487543/TDCS_State%20of%20the%20art.pdf http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3487543/tDCS%20Improves%20Task%20Specific%20Performance.pdf

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

Shaheeb Roshan www.shaheeb.com

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I am unfortunately rather uneducated in electronics,

So you are best not to do this project, it could be fatal.

The arduino like any other board would be capable of controlling this sort of thing but you can not generate these signals directly because you can only get 5V directly from most micro controllers.
This sort of thing requires high voltages and you generate these with external circuits that turn the DC into AC, then step up the AC voltage using a transformer or inductor and then convert it back to DC.
Your software controls this system and any programming error might result in a voltage overdoes for your victim.