Alzheimer’s zapped: Scientists launch orientation problem to treat dementia by sending electrical currents deep into brain
- Imperial College London and UK Dementia Research Institute received a $ 1.5m grant
- It came from American philanthropists, including Bill Gates, to test the new technology
- Researchers selected 24 patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s to have the therapy
- After dozens of failed trials for dementia drugs, experts have high hopes for trials
Neurologists need to start treating Alzheimer’s patients by sending electrical currents deep into their brains.
A team at Imperial College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute have received a $ 1.5 million (£ 1.14 million) grant from US philanthropists, including Bill Gates, to test the technology.
Researchers selected 24 patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s to undergo the therapy, which includes two weeks of daily hour-long sessions.
After dozens of failed trials for dementia medicines, experts have high hopes for this new method.
The technology – called temporary interference brain stimulation – involves applying electrodes to the scalp.
The electrodes then send two harmless beams at high frequency into the brain.
These beams are of slightly different frequencies – 2,000 Hz and 2,005 Hz – and when they cross they make a third current, a low frequency wave of 5 Hz.
And it is this new wave that researchers hope will make all the difference.
It will be activated in the hippocampus – an area deep in the brain responsible for forming new memories. This will hopefully revive the mitochondria of the area, the energy source in each cell, which are damaged by Alzheimer’s.
The two original beams have too high a frequency to interfere with the healthy brain tissue through which they pass.
But the new wave will have the same frequency at which brain cells fire – allowing it to spark diseased neurons back into action.
Tests on healthy volunteers show that the technique increases blood flow to the brain and results in improved results in facial recognition tests. But the new trial, which begins in January, will be the first time that patients with Alzheimer’s have undergone treatment.
A team at Imperial College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute have received a $ 1.5million (£ 1.14million) grant from US philanthropists, including Bill Gates (pictured), to test the technology
Researcher Dr Nir Grossman said: ‘There is more and more evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction plays an important role in Alzheimer’s disease.
‘This is an important milestone for us, concluding years of work on a breakthrough technological development.’
Some 850,000 people in the UK suffer from dementia, of which 500,000 have Alzheimer’s disease.
The trial is one of 16 grants awarded through the $ 60million (£ 46million) portion of the Cloud program – a scheme funded by philanthropists Bill Gates and Mikey Hoag, and the US Alzheimer’s Association.
Microsoft billionaire, Mr Gates, has spoken of witnessing the effects of the disease and said finding a treatment ‘requires increased and ongoing research investment’.
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