Scholars@Duke publication: Cerebral Blood Flow Responses to Extracranial Alternating Current Brain Stimulation in CVN Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Study Determining Optimal Dose.

Cerebral Blood Flow Responses to Extracranial Alternating Current Brain Stimulation in CVN Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Study Determining Optimal Dose.

Publication , Journal Article

Degan, S; Feng, Y; Colton, C; Schmidt, S; Peterchev, AV; Turner, DA

Published in: Neuromodulation

February 2026

INTRODUCTION: Insufficient metabolic supply in response to neural demand is a key mechanism of degeneration in Alzheimer's disease [AD]. However, extracranial alternating current [AC] stimulation can increase cerebral blood flow [CBF] and metabolic substrate supply to the brain. In this work, we investigate in an initial, pilot study the optimal dosage of extracranial AC brain stimulation appropriate for long-term treatment to retard degeneration in a mouse AD model [CVN]. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We applied extracranial AC (0.5-2.0 mA; 10 Hz; 20-second bursts) to CVN and control C57Bl/6 mice while measuring CBF and intracerebral electric field in vivo in anesthetized animals, and behavioral responses in awake animals. RESULTS: We found a significant, diffuse increase in cortical CBF (2.6% increase at 0.75 mA) and intracerebral electric field (6.36mV/mm gradient at 0.75 mA) in response to extracranial AC brain stimulation in both CVN and control mice. In awake, behaving mice, the optimal dose of stimulation was 0.75 mA (in 30-second bursts), causing no adverse behavioral effects. CONCLUSION: Scheduled (at fixed times) or demand-triggered (during dynamic metabolic need) bursts of extracranial brain stimulation could enhance CBF to improve brain metabolic supply. The goal of this potential AD treatment is to alleviate mismatches between neural metabolic demand and brain substrate supply, to prevent AD phenotypic disease progression. Based on these pilot data, 0.75 mA is an optimal stimulation treatment dose leading to an appreciable net change in CBF, at a moderate intracranial electrical field, while also indicating behavioral tolerability, now being implemented in a long-term treatment trial.