Rivastigmine effects on EEG spectra and three-dimensional LORETA functional imaging in Alzheimer’s disease

ObjectiveThe objective of the study is to investigate the electrocortical and the global cognitive effects of 3 months rivastigmine medication in a group of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease patients.Materials and methodsMultichannel EEG and cognitive performances measured with the Mini Mental State Examination in a group of 16 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s Disease were collected before and 3 months after the onset of rivastigmine medication.ResultsSpectral analysis of the EEG data showed a significant power decrease in the delta and theta frequency bands during rivastigmine medication, i.e., a shift of the power spectrum towards ‘normalization’. Three-dimensional low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) functional imaging localized rivastigmine effects in a network that includes left fronto-parietal regions, posterior cingulate cortex, bilateral parahippocampal regions, and the hippocampus. Moreover, a correlation analysis between differences in the cognitive performances during the two recordings and LORETA-computed intracortical activity showed, in the alpha1 frequency band, better cognitive performance with increased cortical activity in the left insula.ConclusionThe results point to a ‘normalization’ of the EEG power spectrum due to medication, and the intracortical localization of these effects showed an increase of cortical activity in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions that are well-known to be affected in Alzheimer’s disease. The topographic convergence of the present results with the memory network proposed by Vincent et al. (J. Neurophysiol. 96:3517–3531, 2006) leads to the speculation that in our group of patients, rivastigmine specifically activates brain regions that are involved in memory functions, notably a key symptom in this degenerative disease.

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