Grant: Summer Program in Aging

Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes memory loss in older adults but lacks effective treatments. It would be helpful to develop potential treatments during the early stages like mild AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) when the quality of life is still high. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (AtDCS) is a brain treatment that can help with memory but has not shown consistent effects in everyone. Hence, we are exploring how combining exercise with AtDCS might help improve memory in people with MCI and mild AD. Exercise and AtDCS seem to affect blood flow in the brain, the growth of new blood vessels, and how well our cells produce energy. These factors are linked to memory and AD development. To understand their relationships better, I aim to look into brain blood flow, blood markers related to blood vessel growth (like VEGF and endostatin), and cell energy markers (like ccf-mtDNA) in response to exercise and AtDCS treatment in MCI and mild AD patients. Patients diagnosed with MCI and mild AD are randomly assigned to either the exercise + AtDCS, exercise + sham stimulation (control), or AtDCS only group. Participants receive 10 sessions of AtDCS or stimulation over 2 weeks, with or without exercise before the simulation. Before and after the 10 sessions, blood samples will be collected to measure VEGF, endostatin, and ccf-mtDNA levels, while brain imaging will be used to measure blood flow. Standard memory tests will be used. In the end, the results will be statistically analyzed to understand the relationships between the changes in these markers and memory, considering factors like age and education. This study might uncover new markers helpful in treating MCI and AD and possibly other similar brain conditions. With no cure for AD, figuring out how these treatments affect the brain could lead to personalized therapies in the future.