Enhancement of Hippocampal Plasticity Using Repetitive TMS- Tucson, AZ

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Details

  • Location:
  • Age: 50 to 80
  • Duration: 5 years
  • Visits: 36
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Eligibility Requirements

You may be eligible if:

  • You or a loved one has notice a memory impairment
  • You are 50-80 years old
  • You are fluent in English
  • You are right-handed
  • You don’t have a history of neurological and psychiatric disease, fainting, Alzheimer disease, or seizure
  • You don’t have electrical implant
  • You don’t have a cochlear implant
  • You don’t have recent drug withdrawal
  • You don’t have any implanted metal in your body
  • You are willing to attend study visits at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ

About the Study:

This study involves the integration of two emerging technologies. 


1) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) – this is similar to any MRI prescribed by your doctor. 


2) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) – this is a non-invasive method of “brain stimulation”. It involves placing a magnetic coil on the surface of your head. The magnetic coil is about the same strength as MRI. When this coil is turned on and off quickly, it can excite the neurons in the brain tissue located directly under the coil. 

Purpose:

When using TMS, researchers are able to excite the brain tissue underneath the magnetic coil – and, essentially, this “turns on” a pathway of communication. This study will use TMS to stimulate the brain’s memory center to study whether this is a viable approach to improve memory and/or protect against memory decline. Brain imaging techniques, neuropsychological assessments, and observations from body worn devices before and after the brain stimulation protocol will be used to study how the brain responds.

What is Involved:

You will be asked to receive 30 intervention sessions for three different protocols (10 sessions for each). Each intervention will be around half hour and each outcome measurement will take another one hour, involving cognitive testing.


You don’t need to come to the laboratory during the weekends. All sessions will take place in the Biosciences Research Laboratories (BSRL) Building (1230 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721). 

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