A decade after scientists from the PicuWer Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT began to test whether the sensory stimulation of the “gamma” frequency of the brain could treat Alzheimer’s disease in mice, a growing basis of evidence supporting the idea that it can improve brain health – in humans as well as animals – is out of the work of laboratories around the world. A new open access Review the article in Biology PLOS Until now described the state of research and presents some of the fundamental and clinical questions at the forefront of non-invasive gamma stimulation now.
“As we have made all our observations, many other people in the field have published very consistent results,” explains Li-huei tsaiPicower professor of neuroscience at MIT, director of the MIT Aging brain initiativeand main author of the new criticism, with Postdoc Jung. “People have used many different ways to induce gamma, including sensory stimulation, stimulation of the alternate transcranial current or transcranial magnetic stimulation, but the key is to provide stimulation at 40 Hertz. They all see beneficial effects. »»
A decade of discovery
Start with a paper in Nature In 2016A collaboration led by Tsai has produced a series of studies showing that 40 Hz stimulation via lighther, The two combinedOr tactile vibration Reduces the characteristics of Alzheimer’s pathology such as amyloid and tau proteins, prevents death of neurons, decreases the loss of synapse and maintains memory and cognition in various models of Alzheimer’s mouse. Collaboration surveys on the underlying mechanisms that produce these advantages have so far identified specific cellular and molecular responses in many types of brain cells, including neurons, microglia, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and blood vessels of the brain. Last year, for example, the laboratory reported in Nature This 40 -Hz audio and visual stimulation induced interneurons in mice to increase the release of peptide vip, which has aroused increased clearance of the sting tissue amyloid via the glymphatic “plumbing” system of the brain.
Meanwhile, MIT and MIT Spinoff Company Cognito TherapeuticsPhase II clinical studies have shown that people with Alzheimer’s exposed to the light and Alzheimer’s sound have experienced a significant slowdown in brain atrophy and improvements in certain cognitive measures, compared to untreated witnesses. Cognito, which has also measured a significant preservation of the “white substance” of the brain in volunteers, has been carrying out a phase III clinical trial on a national and national scale for more than a year.
“Neuroscientists often deplore that this is the ideal moment to have an AD (Alzheimer’s disease) if you are a mouse,” wrote Park and Tsai in the journal. “Our ultimate goal is therefore to translate the discoveries of the genre into a sure therapy, accessible and not invasive for patients with MA.” The MIT team often refers to the stimulation of 40 Hz as “genre” for gamma training using sensory stimulation.
A growing field
As a tsai collaboration, which includes colleagues from the MIT Edward Boyden And Emery N. Brownhas published its results, many other laboratories have produced studies adding to evidence that various methods of non -invasive Gamma sensory stimulation can combat Alzheimer’s pathology. Among many examples cited in the new review, in 2024 a research team in China independently corroborated This 40 Hz sensory stimulation increases glymphatic fluid flows in mice. In another example, a team based at the Medicine School in Harvard in 2022 watch This 40 Hz gamma stimulation using transcranial alternate current stimulation has considerably reduced the TAU load in three of the four human volunteers. And in Another study Implying more than 100 people, researchers in Scotland in 2023 used Gamma audio and visual stimulation (at 37.5 Hz) to improve memory recall.
Open questions
In the middle of the growing number of publications describing preclinical studies with mice and clinical trials with people, open questions remain, tsai and the park recognize. The MIT team and others always explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the effects of the genus. TSAI says that his laboratory examines other neuropeptides and neuromodulatory systems to better understand the cascade of events connecting sensory stimulation to the observed cellular responses. Meanwhile, the nature of how certain cells, such as microglia, react to gamma stimulation and how it affects pathology remains uncertain, adds Tsai.
Even with a current national phase III clinical trial, it is always important to study these fundamental mechanisms, known as Tsai, because new perspectives on the way in which non -invasive gamma stimulation affects the brain could improve and extend its therapeutic potential.
“The more we understand the mechanisms, the more good ideas on how to optimize treatment more,” says Tsai. “And the more we understand its action and the circuits it affects, the more we know beyond Alzheimer’s disease that the other neurological disorders will benefit.”
Indeed, the journal highlights the studies of the MIT and other institutions providing at least a few evidence that the genus could be able to help in Parkinson’s disease, a stroke, anxiety, epilepsy and cognitive side effects chemotherapy and the conditions that reduce myelinlike multiple sclerosis. The Tsai laboratory has studied if it can also help Down syndrome.
Open questions can help define the next decade of gender research.