Deep Brain Stimulation for Alzheimer's Disease: Stimulation Parameters and Potential Mechanisms of Action

Yinpei Luo; Yuwei Sun; Xuelong Tian; Xiaolin Zheng; Xing Wang; Weina Li; Xiaoying Wu; Bin Shu; Wensheng Hou

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.619543

Deep Brain Stimulation for Alzheimer's Disease: Stimulation Parameters and Potential Mechanisms of Action

Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Mar 11:13:619543. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.619543. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yinpei Luo¹, Yuwei Sun¹, Xuelong Tian^{1

2}, Xiaolin Zheng^{1

2}, Xing Wang^{1

2}, Weina Li³, Xiaoying Wu^{1

2}, Bin Shu⁴, Wensheng Hou^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
² Chongqing Medical Electronics Engineering Technology Research Center, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing, China.
⁴ Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University-Town Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical technique that regulates neuron activity by using internal pulse generators to electrodes in specific target areas of the brain. As a blind treatment, DBS is widely used in the field of mental and neurological diseases, although its mechanism of action is still unclear. In the past 10 years, DBS has shown a certain positive effect in animal models and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), but there are also different results that may be related to the stimulation parameters of DBS. Based on this, determining the optimal stimulation parameters for DBS in AD and understanding its mechanism of action are essential to promote the clinical application of DBS in AD. This review aims to explore the therapeutic effect of DBS in AD, and to analyze its stimulation parameters and potential mechanism of action. The keywords "Deep brain stimulation" and "Alzheimer's Disease" were used for systematic searches in the literature databases of Web of Science and PubMed (from 1900 to September 29, 2020). All human clinical studies and animal studies were reported in English, including individual case studies and long-term follow-up studies, were included. These studies described the therapeutic effects of DBS in AD. The results included 16 human clinical studies and 14 animal studies, of which 28 studies clearly demonstrated the positive effect of DBS in AD. We analyzed the current stimulation parameters of DBS in AD from stimulation target, stimulation frequency, stimulation start time, stimulation duration, unilateral/bilateral treatment and current intensity, etc., and we also discussed its potential mechanism of action from multiple aspects, including regulating related neural networks, promoting nerve oscillation, reducing β-amyloid and tau levels, reducing neuroinflammation, regulating the cholinergic system, inducing the synthesis of nerve growth factor.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; action mechanism; deep brain stimulation; stimulation parameter; therapeutic effect.

Publication types

Review