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bioRxiv · 10.1101/600296

Cognitive Improvements after Intermittent Deep Brain Stimulation of the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert in a Transgenic Rat Model for Alzheimer’s disease; a Preliminary Approach

Koulousakis, P.·van den Hove, D.·Visser-Vandewalle, V.·Sesia, T.
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Abstract

BackgroundDeep brain stimulation (DBS) of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) has shown to have promising results in a pilot study with patients suffering from Alzheimers disease (AD). A recent study in aged monkeys shows a novel intermittent stimulation pattern to have superior cognitive benefits over continuous paradigms.\n\nObjective/HypothesisWe aimed at comparing the cognitive effects elicited by intermittent and continuous NBM stimulation paradigms in an animal model for AD (TgF344-AD rat line; TG), i.e. rats expressing mutant human amyloid precursor protein (APPsw) and presenilin 1 (PS1{Delta}E9) genes, each independent causes of early-onset familial AD.\n\nMethodsIn this exploratory study, aged APP/PS1 rats were tested pre-, and post implantation with several stimulation parameters, i.e. unilateral- or bilateral-intermittent, and bilateral-continuous, while performing various behavioral tasks (open field, novel object recognition, and modified Barnes maze).\n\nResults and ConclusionBilateral-intermittent NBM DBS allowed aged TG rats to perform better and maintain their performance longer in a spatial memory task, as compared to other conditions. These data support the notion that NBM DBS could be further refined in the clinic, thereby improving patient care.

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Koulousakis, P., van den Hove, D., Visser-Vandewalle, V., Sesia, T.. 2019-04-05. Cognitive Improvements after Intermittent Deep Brain Stimulation of the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert in a Transgenic Rat Model for Alzheimer’s disease; a Preliminary Approach. https://doi.org/10.1101/600296

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