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Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:59 pm
by BrianR
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 111004.htm
By exposing mice to a unique combination of light and sound, MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can improve cognitive and memory impairments similar to those seen in Alzheimer's patients.

This noninvasive treatment, which works by inducing brain waves known as gamma oscillations, also greatly reduced the number of amyloid plaques found in the brains of these mice. Plaques were cleared in large swaths of the brain, including areas critical for cognitive functions such as learning and memory.
I'm relatively skeptical that this will work as well in humans as in their mouse model, but, who knows ...

The paywalled Cell paper is at:
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S009 ... 19)30163-1
Multi-sensory Gamma Stimulation Ameliorates Alzheimer’s-Associated Pathology and Improves Cognition
Published: March 14, 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.02.014
Highlights
  • Auditory gamma entrainment using sensory stimuli (GENUS) boosts hippocampal function
  • GENUS affects microglia, astrocytes, and vasculature in auditory cortex and hippocampus
  • Auditory plus visual GENUS induces microglia clustering around plaques
  • Auditory plus visual GENUS reduces amyloid pathology throughout neocortex
Summary
We previously reported that inducing gamma oscillations with a non-invasive light flicker (gamma entrainment using sensory stimulus or GENUS) impacted pathology in the visual cortex of Alzheimer’s disease mouse models. Here, we designed auditory tone stimulation that drove gamma frequency neural activity in auditory cortex (AC) and hippocampal CA1. Seven days of auditory GENUS improved spatial and recognition memory and reduced amyloid in AC and hippocampus of 5XFAD mice. Changes in activation responses were evident in microglia, astrocytes, and vasculature. Auditory GENUS also reduced phosphorylated tau in the P301S tauopathy model. Furthermore, combined auditory and visual GENUS, but not either alone, produced microglial-clustering responses, and decreased amyloid in medial prefrontal cortex. Whole brain analysis using SHIELD revealed widespread reduction of amyloid plaques throughout neocortex after multi-sensory GENUS. Thus, GENUS can be achieved through multiple sensory modalities with wide-ranging effects across multiple brain areas to improve cognitive function.
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Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:13 am
by aphorist
The mice were 6-9 months old, which makes me wonder if this would really work in older individiuals. You can see in Figure 5 that there was an improvement in vascular diameter and presumably bloodflow. The LRP1 colocalizing with AB in the same figure, demonstrates that AB is probably being cleared. What I don't get is why Gamma and what is the logic behind this? In a QEEG, they map delta, theta, beta and alpha waves. They don't even look at Gamma waves.

You can hear the sound file they played for the mice on this NY Times article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/heal ... &smtyp=cur

I think I would lose my mind just listening to that for 1 hour.

also FYI:

https://gammalighttherapy.com/

https://www.cognitotx.com/

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:51 pm
by NF52
aphorist wrote:The mice were 6-9 months old, which makes me wonder if this would really work in older individiuals. You can see in Figure 5 that there was an improvement in vascular diameter and presumably bloodflow. The LRP1 colocalizing with AB in the same figure, demonstrates that AB is probably being cleared. What I don't get is why Gamma and what is the logic behind this?
...
I think I would lose my mind just listening to that for 1 hour....
Thanks for sharing the link, aphorist. I got through about 10 seconds of the sound, which made my tinnitus seem like a gift by comparison. Looks like they decided not to torture people:
Dr. Tsai’s team has tested light and sound on healthy people, using a four-by-three-foot light panel and high-quality stereo speakers, “so the sound is more tolerable to humans, because it’s not melody, it’s clicks,” she said. Electroencephalogram measurements show the desired gamma-wave effect, she said, and “nobody complains about any discomfort or headache or anything.”


And this might explain the focus on gamma waves, from a February 2018 article on Tsai's research in Nature:
...the highest frequency are gamma waves, which range from 25 to 140 hertz. People often show a lot of this kind of activity when they are at peak concentration...People with Alzheimer’s disease show a reduction in gamma oscillations. So Tsai and others wondered whether gamma-wave activity could be restored, and whether this would have any effect on the disease.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02391-6 The same article mentions that people with Parkinson's seem to get "stuck" on beta waves, so current treatment of Parkinson's through deep-brain stimulation and levodopa may be reducing beta waves.

As for the age of the mice, the Nature article addressed that also:
To achieve a longer-lasting effect on animals with amyloid plaques, they repeated the experiment for an hour a day over the course of a week, this time using older mice in which plaques had begun to form. Twenty-four hours after the end of the experiment, these animals showed a 67% reduction in plaque in the visual cortex compared with controls. The team also found that the technique reduced tau protein, another hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Since these are all genetically engineered mice designed to get AD in a reasonable "window" of research time, 6-9 months may be "advanced old age" for them.

Sounds like a basic and early-stage clinical research focus ready for lots of new post-docs to start working on!

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:36 pm
by mike
Do they have a clue how the AB is getting cleared? And also the tau, which may prove to be more important? These are normal brain rhythms, but could it be causing some kind of actual physical vibration breaking these up so they can more easily fit down the drain?

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:18 pm
by BrianR
mike wrote:Do they have a clue how the AB is getting cleared? And also the tau, which may prove to be more important? These are normal brain rhythms, but could it be causing some kind of actual physical vibration breaking these up so they can more easily fit down the drain?
They cite three mechanisms for Aβ clearing: "Our results indicating increased Aβ-uptake by microglia, vascular-dilation response, and potential amyloid transvascular transport all suggest an enhancement in Aβ clearance by auditory GENUS through multiple mechanisms."

There's less attention to tau, but they state: "Overall, our results show that auditory GENUS can reduce the levels of hyperphosphorylated tau epitopes and seeding in a tauopathy mouse model"

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:09 pm
by SusanJ
Here's the latest on this research: https://picower.mit.edu/news/alzheimers ... hythm-role
Tsai described how her studies show that increasing gamma power and synchrony with sensory stimulation causes changes in neurons, brain immune cells called microglia, and the brain’s vasculature. These changes may be “signatures” of gamma’s significance, she says.

Increasing gamma power causes neurons to reduce processing of amyloid precursor protein and changes endosomal physiology as well, the team has found. In Alzheimer’s model mice, neuronal gene expression related to synaptic function and biochemical transport within cells is reduced, but with GENUS exposure, gene expression related to those functions improves.

Microglia similarly experience major changes after GENUS exposure, all three studies have found. Gene expression becomes less inflammatory and more consistent with capturing and disposing of amyloid. Indeed, they hunt amyloid more effectively, the data show, and they secrete less of an inflammatory marker.
Encouraged by the results, the lab has begun human trials. At SfN Tsai presented some initial data indicating that GENUS safely increases gamma rhythm power and synchrony across the brain in healthy people.

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 4:10 pm
by mike
mike wrote:Do they have a clue how the AB is getting cleared? And also the tau, which may prove to be more important? These are normal brain rhythms, but could it be causing some kind of actual physical vibration breaking these up so they can more easily fit down the drain?
New article. Turns out I could be right...
https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/ ... ate_Active

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 2:32 pm
by Family Tree Guy
Just my own n=1 experience, but would be curious if anyone else has tried this. I have used gamma 40Hz / isochronic style (same frequency in both ears vs. binaural with different frequencies in each ear) and have found the following very repeatable effect. On days that I spend close to an hour listening to the 40Hz clicks (usually while doing something else like reading or internet surfing), I end up having much more vivid and memorable dreams. This makes some scientific sense as vivid dreams are associated with REM sleep, which occurs in this gamma brainwave state. So perhaps listening to the sounds in some ways familiarizes my brain with this state and makes it more likely. My hope is that is also stimulates the microglia (to take out the trash) which are supposed to be active during REM sleep, although the latest research suggests some of this also happens during very slow brain wave states (which occur just prior to REM).

By the way, you can try this for free by searching youtube for gamma 40Hz isochronic sounds.

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:29 pm
by Melanie R.
Family Tree Guy wrote:Just my own n=1 experience, but would be curious if anyone else has tried this. I have used gamma 40Hz / isochronic style (same frequency in both ears vs. binaural with different frequencies in each ear) and have found the following very repeatable effect. On days that I spend close to an hour listening to the 40Hz clicks (usually while doing something else like reading or internet surfing), I end up having much more vivid and memorable dreams. This makes some scientific sense as vivid dreams are associated with REM sleep, which occurs in this gamma brainwave state. So perhaps listening to the sounds in some ways familiarizes my brain with this state and makes it more likely. My hope is that is also stimulates the microglia (to take out the trash) which are supposed to be active during REM sleep, although the latest research suggests some of this also happens during very slow brain wave states (which occur just prior to REM).

By the way, you can try this for free by searching youtube for gamma 40Hz isochronic sounds.
Hello familytreeguy,

Welcome to the forum! We are so happy you have joined us and appreciate your questions. Thank you for pointing us to the youtube search with binaural beats that has worked well for you.

I personally enjoy hearing about others experience using gamma frequency and binaural beats. My son recently suffered a concussion from soccer and is currently undergoing a similar protocol for his injury. Although he is only 7, he is lately able to retell three of his dreams when he wakes, in detail. Normally he recalls maybe one. This is encouraging knowing he is getting that needed deep sleep. At home I put earphones on him throughout the day with a variety of binaural beats. I am grateful we are able to see a Functional Medicine doctor with an interest in neurology that can help us through this.

You will find a wealth of information on this site, the first being the Wiki. The second section I would direct you to is the Primer which is also a wonderful resource, written by Dr. Stavia, a member, in layman's terms.

Once again, welcome to the forum!

Warm regards,
Melanie

Re: Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 5:29 pm
by Tincup
Melanie R. wrote:
I personally enjoy hearing about others experience using gamma frequency and binaural beats. My son recently suffered a concussion from soccer and is currently undergoing a similar protocol for his injury. Although he is only 7, he is lately able to retell three of his dreams when he wakes, in detail. Normally he recalls maybe one. This is encouraging knowing he is getting that needed deep sleep. At home I put earphones on him throughout the day with a variety of binaural beats. I am grateful we are able to see a Functional Medicine doctor with an interest in neurology that can help us through this.
Melanie, if you've not seen it before, you may appreciate Stavia's story about her recovery from a very serious TBI (she was unable to practice medicine for a long while).