RecruitingNot ApplicableNCT06202872

Memory Enhancement Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation

Sponsor

Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc

Enrollment

27 participants

Start Date

Nov 15, 2024

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Conditions

Alzheimer Disease Mild Cognitive Impairment

Summary

The 32 million Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 69 million prodromal AD patients worldwide contribute to a large economic burden. Effective and safe therapies that slow or prevent the progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to AD are therefore of high priority. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a safe and patient-friendly non-invasive brain stimulation technique that serves as a potential candidate for reducing and/or slowing cognitive impairment. Application of tACS in the gamma frequency range, specifically around 40 Hz, has been studied in patients with AD and MCI due to AD. In these patients, a single session of 40 Hz tACS at the precuneus showed to improve episodic memory and to increase gamma power, as measured with electroencephalography. These findings will be replicated in the current study in patients with MCI due to AD, using magnetoencephalography (MEG) recorded before, during and after tACS. In this way, brain activity and network changes that underlie this improvement in episodic memory can be studied with greater temporal and spatial detail.

Eligibility

Min Age: 18 Years

Inclusion Criteria1

Recent (not more than 6 months ago) amnestic MCI diagnosis, which consensus is obtained in a multidisciplinary meeting after an extended multidisciplinary test battery at the memory clinic, including confirmation of AD pathology with cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers: abnormal p-tau/Aβ42 ratio of \> 0.023

Exclusion Criteria4

Suffering from serious neurological, psychiatric or somatic comorbidity
Suffering from epileptic seizures or severe claustrophobia
Intensive use of psychoactive medication
Having a cardiac pacemaker, internal cardiac defibrillator or other intracorporeal device that interferes with MEG recordings

Interventions

DEVICEGamma (40 Hz) tACS at the precuneus region

40 Hz tACS applied at a current of 3.2 milliampere peak-to-peak using a NuroStym transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) system of NeuroDevice for four times 12 minutes (48 minutes in total) at the Pz (according to the 10-20 international EEG coordinates)

DEVICESham tACS at the precuneus region

Sham tACS applied with no effective stimulation between the ramp-up and ramp-down of the current using a NuroStym tES system of NeuroDevice for four times 12 minutes (48 minutes in total) at the Pz (according to the 10-20 international EEG coordinates)