A joint research team from LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) and City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has found that electrical stimulation of the surface of the eye can alleviate depression-like symptoms and improve cognitive function in animals. models. These important findings were recently published in brain stimulation and the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Background
Major depression is the most common and serious psychiatric disorder in the world. Recently, the World Health Organization reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a massive increase in the number of people suffering from anxiety and depression. About a quarter of patients do not respond adequately to available treatments.
Dr. Lim Lee Wei, assistant professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed and former Lee Kuan Yew researcher in Singapore, reported in 2015 that deep brain stimulation of the prefrontal cortex in animal brains might improve memory function and relieve depressive symptoms. . These therapeutic effects have been attributed to the growth of brain cells in the hippocampus, a region of the brain known to be involved in learning and memory functions. However, this technique, also known as deep brain stimulation, is invasive and requires surgery to implant electrodes into the brain, which can lead to side effects such as infections and other postoperative complications.
Search Results and Meaning
A team of researchers from Hong Kong led by Dr. Lim Lee Wei; Dr. Leanne Chan Lai-hang, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, CityU; Professor Chan Ying-shing, Dexter HC Man Family Professor of Medical Sciences, Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, Associate Dean (Development and Infrastructure), HKUMed and Director of the Center for Neuroscience Research, HKU, sought d other ways to treat neuropsychiatric diseases. They found that noninvasive stimulation of the corneal surface of the eye (known as transcorneal electrical stimulation, or TES) that activates brain pathways, resulted in remarkable antidepressant effects and reduced stress hormones in an animal model. of depression. In addition, this technique induces the expression of genes involved in the development and growth of brain cells in the hippocampus.
In related experiments, doctoral student Yu Wing-shan and other research members from the School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed, investigated whether this approach might be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, a common type of dementia without a definitive cure. They found that this noninvasive stimulation in mice significantly improved memory performance and reduced beta-amyloid deposits in the hippocampus, which is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Leanne Chan Lai-hang, an expert in electrical stimulation of visual and non-visual brain targets, described the research: “Transcorneal electrical stimulation is a non-invasive method originally developed to treat eye diseases, and it would be a major scientific breakthrough. . breakthrough if it might be applied to treat neuropsychiatric diseases.
“These research results pave the way for new therapeutic opportunities to develop a novel treatment for patients with treatment-resistant depression and dementia. Nevertheless, clinical trials need to be conducted to validate the efficacy and safety,” remarked Professor Chan Ying-shing.
About the research team
The research was led by Dr. Lim Lee Wei, assistant professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences, HKUMed and former researcher Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore; Dr. Leanne Chan Lai-hang, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, CityU; Professor Chan Ying-shing, Dexter HC Man Family Professor of Medical Sciences, Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, Associate Dean (Development and Infrastructure), HKUMed and Director of the Neuroscience Research Center, HKU; and conducted at HKU’s Neuromodulation Lab in collaboration with CityU at the Neural Interface Research Lab. Yu Wing-shan was the lead researcher. She is the recipient of a prestigious Hong Kong PhD scholarship, awarded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.
Thanks
This scientific work was supported by the General Research Fund of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (No. 17119420 and No. 11208218), the Fund for Basic Research (No. 201811159133 and No. 201910159163) and for Research translational and applied, no. 201910160010); and the CityU Strategic Research Fund (#7005632).
