Imagine trying to learn a new dance move without any music. It might feel disjointed and difficult to coordinate your movements. Well, the same principle applies to a revolutionary therapy called GENUS (Gamma ENtrainment Using Sensory stimulation). GENUS involves stimulating the brain at a specific frequency of 40 Hz through visual and auditory cues. While it has shown promise in animal models, its success in humans has been inconsistent. That’s where cognitive tasks come into play. In this study, researchers hypothesized that performing cognitive tasks alongside GENUS therapy could enhance its effects. And guess what? They were right! Not only did including cognitive tasks improve the strength and extent of neural entrainment at the 40 Hz frequency, but it also activated deeper areas of the brain like the hippocampus. This is especially exciting because the hippocampus is a key target for Alzheimer’s disease therapies. By incorporating cognitive tasks, we may be able to boost the effectiveness of GENUS therapy and potentially shorten treatment duration. Want to delve deeper into this fascinating research? Check out the full article!

IntroductionAlzheimer’s disease is one of the great challenges in the coming decades, and despite great efforts, a widely effective disease-modifying therapy in humans remains elusive. One particular promising non-pharmacological therapy that has received increased attention in recent years is based on the Gamma ENtrainment Using Sensory stimulation (GENUS), a high-frequency neural response elicited by a visual and/or auditory stimulus at 40 Hz. While this has shown to be effective in animal models, studies on human participants have reported varying success. The current work hypothesizes that the varying success in humans is due to differences in cognitive workload during the GENUS sessions.MethodsWe recruited a cohort of 15 participants who underwent a scalp-EEG recording as well as one epilepsy patient who was implanted with 50 subdural surface electrodes over temporo-occipital and temporo-basal cortex and 14 depth contacts that targeted the hippocampus and insula. All participants completed several GENUS sessions, in each of which a different cognitive task was performed.ResultsWe found that the inclusion of a cognitive task during the GENUS session not only has a positive effect on the strength and extent of the gamma entrainment, but also promotes the propagation of gamma entrainment to additional neural areas including deep ones such as hippocampus which were not recruited when no cognitive task was required from the participants. The latter is of particular interest given that the hippocampal complex is considered to be one of the primary targets for AD therapies.DiscussionThis work introduces a possible improvement strategy for GENUS therapy that might contribute to increasing the efficacy of the therapy or shortening the time needed for the positive outcome.

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