- Researchers say that electrical stimulation delivered twice daily may boost cognitive function in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
- They say the low electrical current can help the brain form new neural networks.
- The study sample was relatively small, meaning more research is necessary.
A new study is reporting that electrical stimulation may help boost cognitive function in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Specifically, researchers say that twice daily non-invasive electrical stimulation can help fire up the brain’s plasticity through new neural networks.
The results of their small clinical trial were published today in the journal General Psychiatry.
The technology, known as transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS for short, can help enable the brain to “rewire” through the formation of new neural networks, the researchers said.
The electricity comes from a device with two electrodes, placed over specific areas of a person’s head, delivering a constant flow of low-intensity electrical current.
The study authors point out it’s a method more practitioners are using in many areas of medicine, including treating depression.
The scientists looked at 140 people from four hospitals who had mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
The subjects were randomly allocated to receive either two daily sessions of active (constant low intensity 1-2 mA current) or fake tDCS for five consecutive days of the week for six weeks.
The goal was to ascertain whether tDCS could improve cognitive function in people with Alzheimer’s disease and, if so, whether it could lead to them recovering some level of cortical plasticity (the brain’s capacity to form new neural networks).
The tDCS was applied to subjects’
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