Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34027028›Full record

ArticleAlzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)2021

A feasibility trial of gamma sensory flicker for patients with prodromal Alzheimer's disease.

Qiliang He, Kay M Colon-Motas, Alyssa F Pybus, Lydia Piendel, Jonna K Seppa, Margaret L Walker, Cecelia M Manzanares, Deqiang Qiu, Svjetlana Miocinovic, Levi B Wood and 3 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
86citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
9.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

86 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 122 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Gamma sensory stimulation in mild Alzheimer's dementia: An open-label extension study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
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26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Qiliang HeWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Kay M Colon-MotasDepartment of Neurology Emory Brain Health Center Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Alyssa F PybusWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Lydia PiendelDepartment of Neurology Emory Brain Health Center Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Jonna K SeppaDepartment of Neurology Emory Brain Health Center Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Margaret L WalkerDepartment of Neurology Emory Brain Health Center Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Cecelia M ManzanaresDepartment of Neurology Emory Brain Health Center Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Deqiang QiuWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Svjetlana MiocinovicWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Levi B WoodWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Allan I LeveyDepartment of Neurology Emory Brain Health Center Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
James J LahDepartment of Neurology Emory Brain Health Center Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.
Annabelle C SingerWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University Atlanta Georgia USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6003-0488
Emory University · USGeorgia Institute of Technology · US

Funding

Non-Invasive Methods to Drive Neural Activity with Millisecond Precision and to Recruit the Brain’s Immune CellsR01NS109226 · NINDS · GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI Annabelle Catherine Singer · 2018 to 2026
$2.7M
NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS109226
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionWe and collaborators discovered that flickering lights and sound at gamma frequency (40 Hz) reduce Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology and alter immune cells and signaling in mice. To determine the feasibility of this intervention in humans we tested the safety, tolerability, and daily adherence to extended audiovisual gamma flicker stimulation.

methodsTen patients with mild cognitive impairment due to underlying AD received 1-hour daily gamma flicker using audiovisual stimulation for 4 or 8 weeks at home with a delayed start design.

resultsGamma flicker was safe, tolerable, and adherable. Participants' neural activity entrained to stimulation. Magnetic resonance imaging and cerebral spinal fluid proteomics show preliminary evidence that prolonged flicker affects neural networks and immune factors in the nervous system. DISCUSSION: These findings show that prolonged gamma sensory flicker is safe, tolerable, and feasible with preliminary indications of immune and network effects, supporting further study of gamma stimulation in AD.

Indexed as

amyloid betacytokinesdefault mode networkelectrophysiologyfeasibility trialgamma stimulationneural stimulationprodromal Alzheimer's diseasesensory stimulation

Identifiers

PMID34027028
PMCPMC8118113
OpenAlexW3160428532

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.