The brain's limbic system was stimulated
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Electrical stimulation of areas deep within the brain could improve memory, early research suggests.
A team of doctors in Canada stumbled upon the finding
while attempting to treat a morbidly obese man through deep brain
stimulation (DBS).
The electrical stimulation caused the patient to experience vivid memories.
The findings, reported in the Annals of Neurology,
potentially pave the way for electrical stimulation to treat disorders
such as Alzheimer's disease.
Lead researcher Professor Andres Lozano, of the Toronto
Western Hospital, said: "This is a single case that was totally
unexpected.
"We knew immediately this was important. We are sufficiently intrigued to see if this could help people with memory disorders."
The team had been trying to help a 50-year-old obese man
with type 2 diabetes and sleeping disorders who had failed to respond
to diet, medications and psychological help.
He had refused gastric surgery, and doctors decided deep brain stimulation, although experimental, was his best option.
It has been found to have an impact on appetite in
animal tests, but has not been widely tested as a treatment for obesity
in humans.
However, it has been used to treat Parkinson's disease,
chronic pain, severe cluster headaches and even depression with some
success.
The technique involves implanting electrodes into the
brain: in this case into an area in the limbic system called the
hypothalamus, which is thought to control the appetite.
When the electrodes were stimulated by electrical impulses the patient began to experience feelings of deja vu.
He then had a sudden perception of being in a park with friends.
He felt younger, thought he was around 20-years-old, and
his girlfriend of the time was there. He was an observer, and saw the
scene in color.
As the intensity of the stimulation increased, details in the scene became more vivid.
People were wearing identifiable clothes and were talking, but he could not
decipher what they were saying.
Memory tests
Following surgery, the patient recovered for two months.
But later when the electrodes were stimulated for a second time, he
experienced a similar effect.
After three weeks of constant electrical stimulation the patient performed better in memory tests than he had previously done.
A year later he again performed well in memory tests
when the electrodes were stimulated, but less well when they were
switched off.
The results suggest it might be possible to use deep brain stimulation directly to boost memory.
"We hopefully have found a circuit in the brain which
can be modulated by stimulation, and which might provide benefit to
patients with memory disorders," said Professor Lozano.
Professor Lozano is now leading a pilot study into
whether deep brain stimulation can help people with early Alzheimer's
disease. They are initially testing six patients.
Susanne Sorensen, of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "As
it is difficult to experiment on the living human brain, big leaps in
understanding have occasionally been made from unexpected results when
treating something unrelated or observations from rare genetic diseases
and unusual lesions.
"The observations of memories recovery made during this
attempt to treat extreme obesity, could be just such a 'stroke of
luck'."
Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, welcomed the move but said further work was clearly needed.
She said: "It will be interesting to see whether this method offers any benefit to people with Alzheimer's.
"With the number of people with Alzheimer's forecast to
double within a generation, we urgently need to find ways to tackle
this awful disease, but research is hugely under-funded."
 Ann
Neurol. 2008 Jan 29;63(1):119-123
Memory enhancement induced by
hypothalamic/fornix deep brain stimulation.
Hamani C,
McAndrews MP,
Cohn M,
Oh M,
Zumsteg D,
Shapiro CM,
Wennberg RA,
Lozano AM.
Division of Neurosurgery, Toronto Western Hospital and
Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada.
Bilateral hypothalamic deep brain stimulation was
performed to treat a patient with morbid obesity. We
observed, quite unexpectedly, that stimulation evoked
detailed autobiographical memories. Associative memory
tasks conducted in a double-blinded "on" versus "off"
manner demonstrated that stimulation increased
recollection but not familiarity-based recognition,
indicating a functional engagement of the hippocampus.
Electroencephalographic source localization showed that
hypothalamic deep brain stimulation drove activity in
mesial temporal lobe structures. This shows that
hypothalamic stimulation in this patient modulates
limbic activity and improves certain memory functions.
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We hope it might provide benefit to patients with memory disorders
