F06.7
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: REM-theta-tCS: experimental nocturnal sleep with cathodal REM-specific theta-tCS in MCI patients (6 Hz, between 5 and 255 µA, DC baseline at 130 µA, 1 s fade in/out, maximum current density 0
Sponsors
Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
60 Years to 80 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: - Adults aged between 60-80 years - screening in a structured telephone interview - presence of MCI - Only pateints with health insurance will be included, to ensure that incidental findings can be further investigated
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: - History of neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy, seizures, strokes) - Neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., dementia) - medication acting primarily on the central nervous system - Severe and untreated medical conditions - History of severe alcoholism or use of drugs - Severe psychiatric disorders (e.g., psychosis) - Contraindication to tDCS application - Sleep disorders (and sleep medication) - Insufficient German language skills (relevant for memory testing)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Cortical E/I balance will be quantified by the spectral slope of the 1/f decay function in the power spectral density. The spectral slope reflects the aperiodic component of neural activity, where steeper (more negative) slopes indicate increased cortical inhibition and flatter slopes reflect higher excitation-to-inhibition ratios. This measure provides a well-established proxy of cortical E/I balance. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| - EEG data is recorded and SO and spindle activity (spectral power and density) will be assessed. In addition the coupling between SO and spindles will be evaluated as a function of stimulation condition in the following way: first the precise SO phase during which cortical spindle activity peaks will be determined. - Memory retention performance in a visual-spatial memory task and schema formation task as a function of stimulation condition, operationalized by pre- to post sleep change in % correct retrieved item locations (in visual-spatial task) and generalization accuracy and memory specificity (schema task), respectively. | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Public ContactJulia Ladenbauer
Universitätsmedizin Greifswald
Outcome results
None listed