Clinical trial NCT04788628: Auditory Stimulation Effects on Sleep and Memory in Patients With Epilepsy
Official title: Effects of Auditory Stimulation on Coordinated Non-REM Sleep Oscillations and Memory in Epilepsy Inpatients With Implanted Hippocampal Electrodes
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Epilepsy
Keywords: Sleep
Memory
Auditory stimulation
Spindles
Intracranial monitoring
Hippocampal ripples
Slow oscillations
Lead sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-03-09
Enrollment: 24
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: This study will investigate the role of coordinated brain rhythms during sleep in memory consolidation and determine whether playing precisely timed brief bursts of noise can enhance these rhythms and improve memory in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes.

Detailed description: The investigators will test the hypotheses that coordinated brain rhythms during nonrapid eye movement sleep are associated with memory consolidation and can be enhanced with auditory stimulation (playing precisely timed brief bursts of quiet noise) to improve memory. The investigators will measure differences in sleep and memory performance in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous full scalp EEG monitoring under three overnight sleep conditions: a baseline night; a memory night during which sleep-dependent memory consolidation is assessed with the finger tapping motor sequence task (MST) with training prior to sleep and testing the next morning; and a stimulation night during which participants train on the MST, have precisely timed auditory stimulation during the sleep that follows, and are tested on the MST in the morning.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Inpatients with epilepsy
* Aged 12-65
* Undergoing clinically indicated continuous scalp and intracranial EEG monitoring with implanted hippocampal electrodes
* Fluent in English
* Able to give informed consent/assent (for minors aged 12-17 or adults with an appointed guardian)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Intellectual disability impairing ability to perform task
* Motor problems that preclude finger tapping task
* Previous surgery anticipated to disrupt coordination of sleep oscillations in the circuitry of interest

Primary outcomes:
measure: Changes in slow oscillation-spindle-hippocampal ripple coupling
timeFrame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Changes in sleep-dependent consolidation of motor procedural memory
timeFrame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
measure: Changes in slow oscillations
timeFrame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
measure: Changes in sleep spindles
timeFrame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
measure: Changes in hippocampal ripples
timeFrame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Massachusetts General Hospital
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Professor
name: Dara Manoach, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: