summary: Researchers have found that tactile stimulation with a frequency of 40 Hz can help reduce the symptoms and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, conducted in mice model of Alzheimer’s disease, demonstrated that daily exposure to these stimuli for several weeks improved brain health and motor function.
This study shows that such stimulation reduces levels of phosphorylated tau, a protein indicative of Alzheimer’s disease, and may protect neurons from damage and synaptic loss. This discovery may open new possibilities for non-invasive therapeutic strategies in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Important facts:
- This study is the first to show that 40 Hz tactile stimulation can reduce levels of phosphorylated tau, a protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and prevent neuronal death and synaptic loss.
- Exposure of Alzheimer’s disease model mice to daily 40 Hz vibrations for several weeks showed improved brain health and motor function compared to untreated control mice.
- The research team is keen to explore whether this form of stimulation may benefit humans with impaired motor function.
sauce: Picower Learning and Memory Institute
Evidence that non-invasive sensory stimulation with 40 Hz gamma-frequency brain rhythms can reduce the pathology and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease has already been demonstrated in light and sound by multiple research groups in mice and humans. , this time also extended to tactile stimulation.
A new study by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that exposing Alzheimer’s disease model mice to 40-Hz vibrations for an hour a day for several weeks improved brain health and motor function compared to untreated control mice. shown to be improved.
The MIT group isn’t the first investigator to show that gamma-frequency tactile stimulation can affect brain activity and improve motor function, but the stimulation is associated with phosphorylated tau, a protein hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. It was the first to show that levels can also be lowered to prevent neuronal death and nerve cell death. Disconnects synaptic circuits and reduces neuronal DNA damage.
“This study demonstrates a third sensory modality that can be used to increase the gamma-ray output of the brain,” said corresponding author of the study and of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Aging Brain Initiative. Director Li Huei Tsai said. Professor Picower of the School of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS).
“We are very excited to confirm that 40 Hz tactile stimulation benefits motor performance, which has not been shown in other modalities. Whether tactile stimulation benefits subjects with impaired motor function. It would be interesting to see
Ho-Jun Suk, Nicole Buie, Guojie Xu, and Arit Banerjee are the lead authors of this study. Frontiers of Aging Neuroscience Ed Boyden, Y. Eva Tan, professor of neuroengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are co-senior authors of this paper. An associate member of the Picwoer Institute, Boyden has been appointed to the BCS, as well as to the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Media Arts and Sciences, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and K. Lisa Yang Cener for Bionics.
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In a series of papers starting in 2016, collaborative research led by Tsai’s lab showed that 40 Hz light flickers and clicks (a technique called GENUS for gamma entrainment using sensory stimulation) could be used to target amyloid. It was demonstrated to reduce beta and tau protein levels. , prevents neuronal death, preserves synapses, and even preserves learning and memory in various mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.
In a very recent pilot clinical study, the research team found that 40 Hz light and sound stimulation were safe and successfully improved brain activity and connectivity, significantly in a small cohort of human volunteers with early Alzheimer’s disease. appeared to provide significant clinical benefit.
Other groups have replicated and substantiated the health benefits of 40 Hz sensory stimulation, and MIT spin-off company Cognito Therapeutics is targeting phase III light and sound stimulation as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. started clinical trials.
In this new study, we describe two commonly used mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease neurodegeneration: tau P301S mice, which reproduce the tau pathology of tau disease, and CK-p25 mice, which reproduce synaptic loss and synaptic loss. We tested whether whole-body 40-Hz tactile stimulation produced significant benefits in two mouse models. DNA damage seen in human disease.
The researchers focused their analysis on two areas of the brain: the primary somatosensory cortex (SSp), where touch is processed, and the primary motor cortex (MOp), where the brain generates motor commands to the body. I was.
To create a vibrating stimulus, the researchers placed the mouse cage over a speaker playing 40 Hz sound, causing the cage to vibrate.
Unstimulated control mice were housed in interspersed cages in the same room so that all mice heard the same 40 Hz tone. Therefore, the difference measured between stimulated and control mice was caused by the addition of tactile stimulation.
First, the researchers confirmed that 40-Hz vibrations caused changes in neural activity in the brains of healthy (i.e., non-Alzheimer’s) mice.
Activity, as measured by c-fos protein expression, was increased 2-fold in SSp and more than 3-fold in MOp, with a statistically significant increase in the latter case.
Knowing that 40 Hz tactile stimulation can increase neural activity, the researchers evaluated its effect on disease in two mouse models. To reliably represent both sexes, the research team used male HER P301S mice and female CK-p25 mice.
P301S mice stimulated for 3 weeks showed significant preservation of neurons in both brain regions compared to unstimulated controls. The stimulated mouse also showed a significant decrease in tau in her SSp by two measures and a similar trend in MOp.
CK-p25 mice received 6 weeks of vibration stimulation. These mice exhibited higher levels of synaptic protein markers in both brain regions compared to non-vibration control mice. It also showed a reduction in DNA damage levels.
Finally, the team assessed motor performance in mice that were exposed to vibration and mice that were not exposed to vibration. They found that both mouse models were able to remain on the rotating rod for a considerable length of time. P301S mice also clung to wire mesh significantly longer than control mice, whereas CK-p25 mice showed a non-significant positive trend.
“This study, like previous studies using visual or auditory GENUS, demonstrates the use of noninvasive sensory stimulation as a novel therapeutic strategy to ameliorate pathology and improve behavioral capacity in neurodegenerative diseases. It shows potential,” the authors concluded.
Funding: Support for this research is due to the JPB Foundation, the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Eduard Eunekian, the DeGruef VM Foundation, the Harris Family Foundation, Melissa and Doug Co-Hahn, Lester Gimpelson, the Eleanor Schwartz Charitable Foundation, and Dolby. · Done from the family, Kathleen. Miguel Octavio, Jay and Carol Miller, An Gao, Alex Fu, and Charles Heeken.
About this Alzheimer’s Disease Research News
author: David Orenstein
sauce: Picower Learning and Memory Institute
contact: David Orenstein – Picower Learning and Memory Institute
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: open access.
“Vibrotactile stimulation at gamma frequencies alleviates pathologies associated with neurodegeneration and improves motor function” by Tsai Lihui et al. Frontiers of Aging Neuroscience
overview
Vibrotactile stimulation at gamma frequencies alleviates pathologies associated with neurodegeneration and improves motor function
The risk of neurodegenerative diseases increases with age, with a range of pathological conditions and functional impairments associated with these diseases.
We previously demonstrated that non-invasive visual stimulation using 40 Hz light flickering ameliorated pathology and altered cognitive function in a neurodegenerative mouse model, but using a different sensory modality 40 Hz Whether stimulation affects neurodegeneration and motor function has not been studied.
Here we show that whole-body vibrotactile stimulation at 40 Hz leads to increased neural activity in the primary somatosensory cortex (SSp) and primary motor cortex (MOp). In two different neurodegenerative mouse models, tau P301S and CK-p25 mice, daily exposure to 40 Hz vibrotactile stimulation for multiple weeks also reduced SSp and MOp brain pathologies.
Moreover, both tau P301S and CK-p25 mice showed enhanced motor performance after several weeks of daily 40 Hz vibrotactile stimulation. Therefore, vibrotactile stimulation at 40 Hz may be considered a promising therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases with movement disorders.
