Clinical trial NCT01791790: Effects of Brain Stimulation During Nocturnal Sleep on Memory Consolidation in Elderly Healthy Subjects
Official title: Impact of Transcranial Slow Oscillating Stimulation on Memory Consolidation During Nocturnal Slow Wave Sleep in Elderly Healthy Subjects
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Elderly Subjects
Keywords: old Subjects
Controls
brain stimulation
tSOS
tDCS
sleep
memory
memory consolidation
Lead sponsor: Charite University, Berlin, Germany
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2013-02-15
Enrollment: 32
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 50
Maximum age (years): 90
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The beneficial effect of nocturnal sleep on memory consolidation is well-documented in young, healthy subjects. Especially, periods rich in slow-wave sleep (SWS) have shown a memory enhancing effect on hippocampus-dependent declarative memory. Slow oscillatory activity typically occuring during SWS has been implicated in the consolidation effect. Recent evidence in young healthy subjects suggest that the sleep-associated consolidation effect can be amplified by the application of a weak transcranial oscillatory electric current within the frequency range of SWS in humans (0,7-0,8 Hz) during SWS. If elderly, healthy subjects benefit from transcranial slow oscillatory stimulation (tSOS) during nocturnal sleep as well has not been studied so far. The primary aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of a weak slow oscillating brain stimulation (tSOS) on declarative memory consolidation applied during periods of nocturnal SWS in elderly healthy subjects.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* elederly, healthy Subjects
* unobtrusive, neuropsychological screening
* age: 50-90 years
* right handed

Exclusion Criteria:

* untreated severe internal or psychiatric diseases
* epilepsy
* other severe neurological diseases eg., previous major stroke, brain tumour, dementia
* contraindications to MRI

Primary outcomes:
measure: Retention of declarative memories after 0.75 Hz stimulation during SWS, vs after sham stimulation during SWS
timeFrame: 4 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Amount of Slow wave Sleep, spindels, eeg-correlates, further memory systems
timeFrame: 4 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Berlin
country: Germany
facility: Charite CCM Neurologie Berlin
Study officials:
affiliation: Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin - Neurologie
name: Agnes Flöel, Professor
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Marshall L, Helgadottir H, Molle M, Born J. Boosting slow oscillations during sleep potentiates memory. Nature. 2006 Nov 30;444(7119):610-3. doi: 10.1038/nature05278. Epub 2006 Nov 5.
citation: Diekelmann S, Born J. The memory function of sleep. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010 Feb;11(2):114-26. doi: 10.1038/nrn2762. Epub 2010 Jan 4.
citation: Naismith SL, Lewis SJ, Rogers NL. Sleep-wake changes and cognition in neurodegenerative disease. Prog Brain Res. 2011;190:21-52. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53817-8.00002-5.
citation: Marshall L, Molle M, Hallschmid M, Born J. Transcranial direct current stimulation during sleep improves declarative memory. J Neurosci. 2004 Nov 3;24(44):9985-92. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2725-04.2004.
citation: Passmann S, Kulzow N, Ladenbauer J, Antonenko D, Grittner U, Tamm S, Floel A. Boosting Slow Oscillatory Activity Using tDCS during Early Nocturnal Slow Wave Sleep Does Not Improve Memory Consolidation in Healthy Older Adults. Brain Stimul. 2016 Sep-Oct;9(5):730-739. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2016.04.016. Epub 2016 Apr 28.