This study will ascertain whether nicotine is safe and tolerable in DS patients, help with dose-ranging of nicotine in DS, look for evidence of enhancements in cognitive functioning, and establish evidence for biological and behavioral correlates of nicotinic stimulation effects. The knowledge gained from the translational aspects of this project may also guide the application of new nicotinic drugs in DS and generate, for the first time, data on the importance of nicotinic receptor changes in the development of cognitive impairment in DS adults. Hypotheses: * Transdermal nicotine treatment will be well tolerated out to one month by non-smoking DS patients without significant adverse effects. * Nicotine will enhance cognitive performance by one month compared to baseline and post-treatment testing. * Nicotine will enhance functioning detectable by clinician and/or informant ratings (pre-post).
Over 50% of adults with Down Syndrome (DS) develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the age of 60 (Nadel 2003), and life expectancy in DS is now 50-60 years. Thus, age-associated cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults with DS is an urgent public health concern. The investigators propose that nicotinic stimulation is a promising strategy to stabilize or improve cognitive functioning in adults with DS, possibly with additional neuroprotective effects. The investigators have extensive experience investigating the role of nicotinic receptors on human cognition and impairment. This application takes advantage of new insights into treating Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI-the precursor condition to Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in typically developing individuals) with nicotine to propose an open label pilot study of transdermal nicotine in middle-aged non-smoking DS patients who show early cognitive and/or behavioral changes consistent with MCI/dementia. The goal of this study is to establish preliminary evidence for safety, gain preliminary evidence as to whether nicotine enhances cognitive functioning in DS adults, and examine electrophysiological, biological, and behavioral correlates of nicotinic stimulation effects. The investigators propose that positive results on cognitive or functional indices that would lead to a larger and longer double-blind trial to test more definitively whether nicotinic stimulation may be cognitively and/or functionally enhancing for DS patients. The knowledge gained from the translational aspects of this project will guide the development of potentially new nicotinic drugs in DS and generate, for the first time, data on the importance of nicotinic receptor changes in the development of cognitive impairment in DS adults. This work also represents the first time that cutting-edge advances in treating MCI/AD in the general population are immediately and rigorously applied to those with DS.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
7
Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Tolerability of Nicotine Intervention
Maximum transdermal nicotine dosage able to be maintained stably by participants.
Time frame: 1 Month
Cognitive Improvement - Simple Response Time
Psychomotor speed was measured by the performance on the CANTAB simple reaction time task
Time frame: 4 time-points over the 6-week testing period: at baseline, day 14, day 28 (end of treatment), and 2-weeks post-treatment on day 42.
Exploratory - Event-Related Potentials
The investigators will measure daily low-moderate dose nicotine treatment's changes to electrophysiological markers of memory performance using an incidental memory task. The incidental memory task consists of presenting participants with a series of 60 complex images, 50 of which are presented once, and 10 which are repeated 5 times each. The task measures the presence of the late positive potential (LPP), a positive deflection over the parietal cortex which is elevated for the repeated compared to the singly presented images. The presence of this potential is indicative of improved recognition memory.
Time frame: 4 time-points over the 6-week testing period: at baseline, day 14, day 28 (end of treatment), and 2-weeks post-treatment on day 42.
Cognitive Improvement - Continuous Performance Test
Performance on the Conners' Continuous Performance Test, which is a measure of sustained attention. The main outcome measure was commission errors, which measures attention failures. The commission errors are calculated as T-scores. Higher T-scores indicate worse performance, lower T-scores indicate better performance. Average performance is a score of 50, with a standard deviation of 10.
Time frame: 4 time-points over the 6-week testing period: at baseline, day 14, day 28 (end of treatment), and 2-weeks post-treatment on day 42.
Cognitive Improvement - Buschke Selective Reminding Task
Episodic memory performance was assessed by the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. The main outcome metric of this test was the total words correctly recalled.
Time frame: 4 time-points over the 6-week testing period: at baseline, day 14, day 28 (end of treatment), and 2-weeks post-treatment on day 42.
Cognitive Improvement - Critical Flicker Fusion Task
Arousal and vigilance were measured by the Critical Flicker Fusion task. The task used at perceptual performance on ascending and descending frequencies of the task.
Time frame: 4 time-points over the 6-week testing period: at baseline, day 14, day 28 (end of treatment), and 2-weeks post-treatment on day 42.
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