Alzheimer's Rehabilitation

Despite decades of research, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) remains a lethal neurodegenerative disorder for which there are no effective treatments. This project focuses on the latest evidence on the restoration of gamma brain oscillations and investigates their potential role in the treatment of AD. Gamma brain activity (∼25–100 Hz) has been well-known for its role in cognitive function, including memory, and it is fundamental for healthy brain activity and intra-brain communication. Aberrant gamma oscillations have been observed in both mice AD models and human AD patients. A recent line of work demonstrated that gamma entrainment, through auditory and visual sensory stimulation, can effectively attenuate AD pathology and improve cognitive function in mice models of the disease. The first evidence from AD patients indicate that gamma entrainment therapy can reduce loss of functional connectivity and brain atrophy, improve cognitive function, and ameliorate several pathological markers of the disease. This work is using brain stimulation in the form of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as a therapeutic tool that aims to restore gamma brain oscillations in AD patients and investigate the effects of the stimulation on the patients’ episodic memory.