Aging is a major risk factor for most neurodegenerative diseases. As we age, our brain and nervous system go through natural changes. In most cases, neuronal losses during aging lead to cognitive decline, but not necessary to cause clinical symptoms. Neurodegeneration appears to be the result of normal aging combining with other risk factors including genetic factors and accumulation of toxic proteins. These conditions tend to develop in an irreversible manner and there are few or no effective treatments to date.
Noninvasive brain stimulation (NiBS) techniques have made remarkable contributions to neuroscience in the past decades. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial current stimulation (TCS), the two most commonly used forms of NiBS, are the interesting new frontier in modulating brain networks to enhance cognitive functions. Abundant evidence supports that NiBS techniques are capable of modulating neuronal activity in the targeted brain region and beyond, in healthy subjects, as well as in neurodegenerative patients.
There is evidence that NiBS affects neural circuits, and the effect lasts even after the stimulation ends. However, the underlying biological mechanisms of NiBS are not fully understood; moreover, the clinical application of NiBS still faces many challenges. This proposed research topic aims to gather more evidence on the role of NiBS as an innovative therapeutic tool, more specifically, to discuss the advances and challenges of NiBS treating age-related neurodegeneration.
This research topic seeks to collect original research manuscripts, perspectives, reviews and meta-analysis covering the following areas:
- Using TMS, TCS or deep brain stimulation (DBS) in humans or animal models for treating age-related neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular disease, and Lewy body dementia.
- Addressing pre-clinical or clinical methodological issues such as optimizing stimulation targets and the sequence pattern (intensity, frequency, dose) for cognitive improvement.
- Combining NiBS with neuroimaging measures, such as EEG, fMRI, fNIRS etc., to study the consequences of functional interactions between the target and other parts of the network, measure brain network changes of neurodegenerative disease or image the changes caused by NiBS.
With this Research Topic, we hope to provide an opportunity to have a closer look at applications of NiBS on age-related neurodegenerative disorders and share ideas across clinicians and researchers, which may facilitate the improvement of NiBS for clinical treatments.
Aging is a major risk factor for most neurodegenerative diseases. As we age, our brain and nervous system go through natural changes. In most cases, neuronal losses during aging lead to cognitive decline, but not necessary to cause clinical symptoms. Neurodegeneration appears to be the result of normal aging combining with other risk factors including genetic factors and accumulation of toxic proteins. These conditions tend to develop in an irreversible manner and there are few or no effective treatments to date.
Noninvasive brain stimulation (NiBS) techniques have made remarkable contributions to neuroscience in the past decades. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial current stimulation (TCS), the two most commonly used forms of NiBS, are the interesting new frontier in modulating brain networks to enhance cognitive functions. Abundant evidence supports that NiBS techniques are capable of modulating neuronal activity in the targeted brain region and beyond, in healthy subjects, as well as in neurodegenerative patients.
There is evidence that NiBS affects neural circuits, and the effect lasts even after the stimulation ends. However, the underlying biological mechanisms of NiBS are not fully understood; moreover, the clinical application of NiBS still faces many challenges. This proposed research topic aims to gather more evidence on the role of NiBS as an innovative therapeutic tool, more specifically, to discuss the advances and challenges of NiBS treating age-related neurodegeneration.
This research topic seeks to collect original research manuscripts, perspectives, reviews and meta-analysis covering the following areas:
- Using TMS, TCS or deep brain stimulation (DBS) in humans or animal models for treating age-related neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular disease, and Lewy body dementia.
- Addressing pre-clinical or clinical methodological issues such as optimizing stimulation targets and the sequence pattern (intensity, frequency, dose) for cognitive improvement.
- Combining NiBS with neuroimaging measures, such as EEG, fMRI, fNIRS etc., to study the consequences of functional interactions between the target and other parts of the network, measure brain network changes of neurodegenerative disease or image the changes caused by NiBS.
With this Research Topic, we hope to provide an opportunity to have a closer look at applications of NiBS on age-related neurodegenerative disorders and share ideas across clinicians and researchers, which may facilitate the improvement of NiBS for clinical treatments.
