Conley Alexander C, Key Alexandra P, Taylor Warren D, Albert Kimberly M, Boyd Brian D, Vega Jennifer N, Newhouse Paul A
Department of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States.
Vanderbilt Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2021 Dec 23;12:721874. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.721874. eCollection 2021.
Late-life depression (LLD) is a debilitating condition that is associated with poor response to antidepressant medications and deficits in cognitive performance. Nicotinic cholinergic stimulation has emerged as a potentially effective candidate to improve cognitive performance in patients with cognitive impairment. Previous studies of nicotinic stimulation in animal models and human populations with cognitive impairment led to examining potential cognitive and mood effects of nicotinic stimulation in older adults with LLD. We report results from a pilot study of transdermal nicotine in LLD testing whether nicotine treatment would enhance cognitive performance and mood. The study used electroencephalography (EEG) recordings as a tool to test for potential mechanisms underlying the effect of nicotine. Eight non-smoking participants with LLD completed EEG recordings at baseline and after 12 weeks of transdermal nicotine treatment (NCT02816138). Nicotine augmentation treatment was associated with improved performance on an auditory oddball task. Analysis of event-related oscillations showed that nicotine treatment was associated with reduced beta desynchronization at week 12 for both standard and target trials. The change in beta power on standard trials was also correlated with improvement in mood symptoms. This pilot study provides preliminary evidence for the impact of nicotine in modulating cortical activity and improving mood in depressed older adults and shows the utility of using EEG as a marker of functional engagement in nicotinic interventions in clinical geriatric patients.
老年期抑郁症（LLD）是一种使人衰弱的疾病，与对抗抑郁药物反应不佳以及认知功能缺陷有关。烟碱胆碱能刺激已成为改善认知障碍患者认知功能的潜在有效候选方法。先前在动物模型和认知障碍人群中进行的烟碱刺激研究促使人们研究烟碱刺激对患有LLD的老年人的潜在认知和情绪影响。我们报告了一项关于经皮尼古丁治疗LLD的试点研究结果，该研究测试了尼古丁治疗是否会增强认知功能和改善情绪。该研究使用脑电图（EEG）记录作为测试尼古丁作用潜在机制的工具。八名患有LLD的非吸烟参与者在基线时以及经皮尼古丁治疗12周后完成了EEG记录（NCT02816138）。尼古丁强化治疗与听觉oddball任务表现的改善有关。对事件相关振荡的分析表明，尼古丁治疗与第12周时标准试验和目标试验的β去同步化减少有关。标准试验中β功率的变化也与情绪症状的改善相关。这项试点研究为尼古丁在调节抑郁老年人的皮质活动和改善情绪方面的作用提供了初步证据，并表明将EEG用作临床老年患者烟碱干预中功能参与标志物的效用。
