Electrodes 'Reverse' Alzheimer's

I did a little search on this and found just three published studies on animals reporting that neurogenesis was increased by stimulation with specific parameters - two of them by the same authors in this human study.

I did see a number of studies that blithely concluded that ECT causes neurogenesis in the hippocampus (= memory center of the brain). This can only be taken in the context of the many many conclusive reports that ECT causes memory loss. By common reasoning, this seems to be equivalent to the (true!) conclusion that cutting a person's hand off promotes healing. Beat the injured, etcetera..

Implanted electrodes are not that different from ECT. Since they don't know how it 'works' (when it does), it has been suggested that neural damage actually causes the improvement in some conditions. The potential for localized neural damage has been assessed in cats in this example. Recent research was reported at NINDS-NIW showing that long term stimulation caused damage throughout the brain. It's a tough tradeoff, as a therapy that only works for some people.

Since four of the six patients in this study did not show any sign of neurogenesis/ increased hippocampus volume, or improvement in their condition, it is a bit of a stretch to promote this as a promising treatment for alzheimers. The article of course did not report whether the study controlled for any of the known factors in neurogenesis - ranging from exercise routine (and cognitive exercise) to endocrine status and dietary or supplement factors (eg zinc). It also turned up in my search, that decreases in hippocampus volume are not at all exclusive to Alzheimers, but are associated with quite a few other conditions: bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, stroke, brain injury etcetera. The report of 'promising' results in 2/6 patients will allow them to recruit around 50 individuals diagnosed with alzheimers (who are probably incapable of informed consent) for a statistically relevant study.

Ah, well... it's easy to be a critic.