Studies show that flickering light and sound could be a new weapon against Alzheimer’s disease | Florida News Times

For the past few years, Annabel Singer and her collaborators have used flashing lights and sounds to treat a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease with dramatic results.

Currently, they have results from the first human feasibility study of flicker treatment, and they are promising.

Singer, an assistant professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University’s Wallace H. Coulter School of Biomedical Engineering, said:

The singer shared the preliminary results of a feasibility study at the American Society of Neurology Annual Meeting in October. She is currently the corresponding author of Emory Neurology Researcher James Lah, a paper outlining her findings in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions.

Flicker treatment stimulates gamma waves, manipulates nerve activity, mobilizes the brain’s immune system, and eliminates pathogens. In other words, you will succeed in fighting progressive diseases for which there is no cure yet.

Previous studies have already shown that the sensory cortex of the human brain synchronizes with flickering stimuli for seconds to hours. However, this was the first time that the singer and her team were able to test gamma sensory stimulation over a long period of time.

The study included 10 patients with mild cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s disease, wearing experimental visors and headphones, and one group with 40 Hz light and sound for 1 hour a day, 8 I had to expose it for a week and wear another group for 4 weeks. Delayed start.

“We were able to adjust the device to light and sound levels that were not only acceptable, but also successfully elicited the underlying brain response,” Lah said.

As they expected and expected, the singer said “there was widespread involvement.” That is, brain activity (gamma waves in this case) is synchronized with external stimuli.

Gamma waves are associated with high levels of cognitive function such as perception and memory. These wave disturbances have been found not only in Alzheimer’s disease, but also in various neuropathy.

Human feasibility studies have shown that gamma flicker treatment is safe and acceptable. And perhaps most surprisingly, the patient followed a complete treatment schedule.

“Compliance was one of our main concerns,” said the singer. “When I sent the device home with the participants, did they use it? Do they use it for a few days, is it it? I was happy and surprised that it wasn’t. “

The adherence rate remained around 90% and no serious side effects were reported during the study or during the 10-month open-label extension (although this data was not part of a published study, Some patients volunteered to continue monitoring and evaluation after the study).

Some participants reported mild discomfort that may be associated with flicker, such as dizziness, tinnitus, and headaches. But overall, according to Singer, the device’s safety profile was excellent. She also reported some positive biological results.

“We looked at network connectivity in default mode, which is basically how the various areas of the brain that are particularly active interact with each other between awake rest and memory,” Singer said. Stated. “This network of Alzheimer’s disease has a deficit, but eight weeks later [of treatment], It turns out that its connectivity has been enhanced. This may indicate stronger interaction and therefore better communication between these regions.

In previous animal studies, 40 Hz flicker stimulated mouse gamma waves, significantly reducing the pathogenic characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease and mobilizing them due to microglia. These are the major immune cells in the brain. However, in human studies, there was no apparent change in the presence of the pathogen amyloid beta or p-tau.

But, like the mouse study, “we have immune involvement in humans,” Singer said. Flicker treatment triggered the activity of cytokines, which are proteins used for cell signaling. This indicates that flicker was involved in the brain’s immune system.

“Microglia do something like removing pathogens, so that’s what we want to see. Some people think that some of the things that go wrong with Alzheimer’s disease are failures of this removal mechanism,” Singer said. It was.

She and Ra wondered if longer human trials would make a difference — for example, would amyloid activity be reduced?

“So far, this is very preliminary and far from concluding the clinical benefits of this treatment,” Lar said. “But we now have some very good discussions for larger and longer studies with more people.”