My Alzheimer's Journey
Part 64 - Progress on 40-Hz Stimulation Therapy
Before I share exciting recent research on using 40-Hz physical stimulation to treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), I want to take a moment to remember Renee Nicole Good. It is beyond sad that this 37-year-old mother and United States citizen was killed by a Federal agent yesterday. The mental anguish that was forced on her son, her partner, and her entire family and friends has to be overwhelming. I wish them peace and strength.
The State Key Laboratory at in China released a research report, January 5. This report details a project where scientists applied 40-Hz auditory stimulation on nine aged rhesus monkeys. The monkeys were then monitored to determine if their cerebrospinal fluid, amyloid beta, and Tau level changed as a result of the audio stimulation.
This is an important project because previous studies with mice found 40-Hz physical stimulation may be a potential noninvasive treatment for AD. Considering the differences between a mouse brain and a human brain, the effects of 40-Hz physical stimulation needed to be further validated using nonhuman primates before clinical trials.
The China study involved nine rhesus monkeys 26 to 31 years old. These were elderly monkeys. In human years, the monkeys were between early 80s and late 90s.
Seven consecutive days of 40-Hz auditory stimulation triggered a “rapid and significant increase of amyloid levels by more than 200%, but no effect on Tau levels in the cerebrospinal fluid.” The elevated amyloid levels remained for more than five weeks after the cessation of auditory stimulation. The duration of the elevated levels had not been reported in previous studies.
These first-time results from monkeys suggest that 40-Hz auditory stimulation has strong potential of a noninvasive AD treatment method.
Rhesus monkeys and humans share similar brain structures. In fact, many complex brain disorders thought to be unique to humans also occur naturally in monkeys. The State Key Laboratory reported the first spontaneous Parkinson’s disease case in late 2020. Other studies going back as far as 1973 showed AD pathological markers spontaneously emerge in monkey brains with aging.
This study begs the question, “What is next?”
As a layperson, it seems to me that the combination of Lecanemab infusions (or Donanemab) combined with 40-Hz auditory stimulation would kick AD’s ass.
I plan to contact State Key Laboratory and volunteer for a human study. Just kidding, Big Bit is afraid to travel to China, and I certainly could not go without her.
