Plasticity of Deep Brain Structures in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Aging

Summary

Acute and chronic cognitive impairment (TBI and MCI) is one of the most common problems in the growing and aging society of the 21st century. At an individual level, not all brain structures are affected with the same rate. There are subcortical structures less involved (e.g., the cerebellum), and other more involved (e.g., the hippocampus) in the cognitive decline with age or following a traumatism. To pave the way for personalized precision medicine in the field of cognitive preservation and recovery, there is a need for testing the impact of individually tailored innovative non-invasive neuro-technologies. In this project, we aim at testing the benefit of non-invasively stimulating subcortical structures to boost resilience in supporting motor and non-motor memory.

Conditions

• Traumatic Brain Injury

Interventions

OTHER

transcranial electric stimulation

tTIS is an innovative non-invasive brain stimulation approach, in which two or more independent stimulation channels deliver high-frequency currents in the kHz range (oscillating at f1 and f1 + Δf). These high-frequency currents are assumed to be too high to effectively modulate neuronal activity. Still, by applying a small shift in frequency, they result in a modulated electric field with the envelope oscillating at the low-frequency Δf (target frequency) where the two currents overlap. The peak of the modulated envelope amplitude can be steered towards specific areas located deep in the brain, by tuning the positions of the electrodes and the current ratio across stimulation channels. Here, we applied tTIS via surface electrodes applying a low-intensity (2mA baseline to peak), sub-threshold protocol following the safety guidelines for low-intensity transcranial electric stimulation in humans.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Clinique Romande de Readaptation

  collaborator NETWORK

• HUG University hospital

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• SNF Swiss National Foundation

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• The Novartis Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Fondation Bertarelli

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering

  collaborator OTHER

• Friedhelm Hummel

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-09-15

Primary Completion

2024-02-02

Completion

2024-02-02

Countries

• Switzerland

Study Locations