PanARMENIAN.Net – High-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) targeting hippocampal-cortical brain networks can improve age-related decline in long-term memory, new research shows, according to Medscape.
Age-related memory loss is due to declining function of the hippocampal brain network.
“Our study is the first to show that the function of this brain network can be improved in older adults with brain stimulation, leading to memory improvement,” lead investigator Joel Voss, PhD, associate professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, told Medscape Medical News.
“After receiving stimulation, older adults with normal age-related memory decline performed just as well on memory tests as younger adults in their 20s and 30s,” said Voss.
The study was published online April 17 in Neurology.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), also known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), is a noninvasive form of brain stimulation in which a changing magnetic field is used to cause electric current at a specific area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. An electric pulse generator, or stimulator, is connected to a magnetic coil, which in turn is connected to the scalp. The stimulator generates a changing electric current within the coil which induces a magnetic field; this field then causes a second inductance of inverted electric charge within the brain itself.
TMS has shown diagnostic and therapeutic potential in the central nervous system with a wide variety of disease states in neurology and mental health, with research still evolving.
Adverse effects of TMS are rare, and include fainting and seizure.[7] Other potential issues include discomfort, pain, hypomania, cognitive change, hearing loss, and inadvertent current induction in implanted devices such as pacemakers or defibrillators.