Efficacy of Transcranial Electrical Current and Magnetic Stimulation Treatment Options for Alzheimer’s Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Neurodegenerative dementia, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD), is a global crisis with no existing cure. Technologies targeting the neuroplasticity of the brain offer hope for slowing its progression, avoiding further decline, and even reversing the decline. The use of non-pharmaceutical treatments, mainly either transcranial electrical or magnetic stimulation, to induce brain neuroplasticity has been on the rise significantly in the last decade. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by progressive decline in cognitive functions that is associated with neuronal loss as well as characteristic markers such as b-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. In order to counteract the effects of neuronal death, and the particular susceptibility of cholinergic cells in AD, most pharmacological treatments rely on acetylcholinesterase inhibitors to increase the excitability of cells that respond to acetylcholine. Thus, the target of the current treatments is to increase the excitability and activity of remaining cells in order to counteract the decline in brain function.

There are several parameters to choose when designing a protocol for either transcranial electrical or magnetic stimulation of the brain as a treatment for AD. The purpose of this Special Issue is to discuss the most important contributing parameters, their pros and cons, and their efficacy with the hope that we get closer to achieving optimized non-pharmaceutical treatments for individuals affected by AD.

Dr. Zahra Moussavi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Medicina is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• transcranial electrical current estimation
• transcranial magnetic stimulation
• Alzheimer’s disease
• deep current stimulation