The Dose Finding Study of Sodium Benzoate Added to tDCS for the Treatment of Early-phase Alzheimer's Disease
This is a 26-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. We will enroll patients with aMCI or mild AD. All patients will receive 2 weeks of tDCS (5 sessions per week, 10 sessions in total) during the first 2 weeks of the study, and will also be allocated randomly to either of 4 treatment groups for 24 weeks: (1) Dose A group; (2) Dose B group; (3) Dose C group; (4) placebo group. We will assess the patients every 8 weeks during the treatment period (weeks 0, 10, 18, and 26). We hypothesize that augmentation with certain dose of DAOIB will yield better effect than tDCS alone in improving the cognitive function, global functioning and quality of life in patients with aMCI or mild AD.
NMDA Enhancement Combined With Omega-3 Fatty Acids for the Treatment of Early Dementia
In this 4-year proposed project, we will enroll 140 patients with aMCI or mild AD into a 24-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled drug trial. All patients will be allocated randomly to one of two treatment groups for 24 weeks (n = 70 in each group) in a double-blind manner: [1] DAOIB + omega-3; [2] DAOIB + placebo. We will assess the patients every 8 weeks during the treatment period (weeks 0, 8, 16, and 24). We hypothesize that DAOIB combined with omega-3 will yield better efficacy than placebo in improving the cognitive function, global functioning and quality of life in patients with aMCI or mild AD.
Novel Augmentation of DAOIB and Antioxidant for Early Dementia
Previous studies found that some NMDA-enhancing agents were able to improve cognitive function of patients with early-phase dementia. In addition, several drugs with antioxidant properties have been tested in clinical trials for the treatment of dementia too. Whether combined treatment of an NMDA-enhancing agent and a drug with antioxidant property can be better than an NMDA-enhancing agent alone deserves study.