Novel Individualized Brain Stimulation, Network-based Approaches to Improve Cognition in Healthy Seniors and MCI Patients

Summary

Working memory (WM) relies on a vast network comprising cortical and subcortical structures and its impairment is frequent in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, often driving fucntional decline. Recent studies have shown that non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) methods can modulate neuronal activity, and brain network interactions. A significant body of literature has shown that both striatum and cerebellum are reciprocally connected and implicated in WM performance. However, to date, NIBS studies have mainly focused on cerebellar stimulation with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), often yielding inconclusive or conflicting results. In the investigator hypothesis, sequential and concurrent stimulation of multiple brain regions of the WM subcortical network (i.e. targeting striatum and cerebellum) via transcranial temporal interference stimulation (tTIS) and/or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) could enhance WM performance in healthy elderly and/or MCI patients. Moreover, combining different stimulation techniques with multimodal neuroimaging and computational modeling, the investigators expect to acquire better mechanistic understanding through which different NIBS act on the brain and improves cognitive functions.

Conditions

• Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
• Healthy Aging

Interventions

DEVICE

Active Control Placebo

In this intervention, participants underwent magnetic stimulation at the neck level with a TMS coil. Ten minutes after, they received a high frequency temporal interference stimulation with an overlapping sinusoidal wave at 2KHz, without any interferent pattern.

DEVICE

tTIS

In this intervention, participants underwent magnetic stimulation at the neck level with a TMS coil. Ten minutes after, they received active transcranial temporal interference stimulation with a patterned stimulation (intermittent theta-burst) generating temporal interference in the striatum; see Wessel et al., 2023, Nat Neurosci. for details

DEVICE

tTIS + TMS

In this intervention, participants underwent cerebellar magnetic stimulation at the level of a predefined individual point in the inferior left cerebellar hemisphere with a TMS coil, receiving a total of 600 pulses organised in an intermittent theta-burst pattern. Ten minutes after, they received active transcranial temporal interference stimulation with a patterned stimulation (intermittent theta-burst) generating temporal interference in the striatum; see Wessel et al., 2023, Nat Neurosci. for details

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Masaryk University

  collaborator OTHER

• Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Friedhelm Cristoph Hummel, Professor · Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

• Irena Rektorova, Professor · Neuroscience Program, Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-10-01

Primary Completion

2024-10-24

Completion

2024-10-24

Countries

• Czechia
• Switzerland

Study Locations