ASM Foundation and Comunità Bresciana Foundation
Population aging is one of the greatest triumphs of humanity, but it is also one of the major challenges for the future. Indeed, frailty and disability tend to become more frequent in old age, as well as the incidence of dementias. For several years our research unit has undertaken an innovative approach that aims at controlling the deterioration of cognitive and behavioral skills, primarily in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, taking advantage of recent technological progress in the field of neuroscience. Recently, in fact, the development of brain stimulation techniques has caught growing attention of the scientific community for the appealing opportunity to interact with spontaneous brain activity in a totally non-invasive way. Current scientific knowledge shows that these methods can enhance cortical plasticity, which is the intrinsic ability of the brain to adapt to environmental changes. Cortical plasticity forms the basis of learning and memory processes that occur in healthy individuals and it is of paramount importance in recovery phenomena that occur in patients with lesions of nervous system. The main objective of the project financed by Fondazione della Comunità Bresciana and by Fondazione ASM is to investigate the effectiveness of electrical stimulation in inducing cortical plasticity phenomena in a population of healthy elderly subjects and patients with diagnosis of mild Alzheimer’s disease. The participants will take part to a single experimental session, in which their performance at a memory task will be evaluated during the application of electrical stimulation.
IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia