Study protocol for non-pharmacological interventions on mild cognitive impairment: A comparison between electroacupuncture and HD-tDCS

• 1、Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University

Abstract： Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an intermediate clinical state between normal aging and dementia. Non-pharmacological interventions like electroacupuncture and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) were demonstrated to be effective treatments for MCI. The proposal aims to compare the interventional effect by electroacupuncture and high definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) on MCI and to investigate and compare the default mode network alterations after the two interventional approaches. Methods: We will conduct a randomized patient- and assessor-blind, intervention-controlled trial to assess the effects differences and similarities between electroacupuncture and HD-tDCS on cognitive ability and brain functional connectivity of older adults with MCI. Sixty older adults meeting Petersen's MCI criteria will be randomly assigned to receive four-week either electroacupuncture or HD-tDCS intervention. Electroacupuncture group will receive electroacupuncture treatments by sterile, single use needle, 1-3 cm depth, 2 Hz with intensity of 5-10 mA. While HD-tDCS group will receive transcranial direct current stimulate with 1.5 mA on left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Each intervention lasts 30 minutes, 5 times a week, 20 times in total. All the participants will have pre-test and post test, with neuropsychological assessments and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan, and a four-month follow-up. Discussion: The results of this study will provide evidences for the intervention effect of electroacupuncture and HD-tDCS for MCI on both cognitive ability and brain functional connectivity. Moreover, the comparisons between these two approaches will also provide evidences for the differences and similarities across different non-pharmacological intervention methods. Trial registration: This trial is registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR). Registration number: ChiCTR-IOR-15007371. Registration date: 10 November 2015.

keywords： Mild cognitive impairment Electroacupuncture High definition transcranial direct current stimulation Functional magnetic resonance imaging functional connectivity

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