NIH Funds Five-Year Study on Sleep Criticality as Potential Alzheimer's Intervention
Ongoing NIH-supported research tests sleep's role in restoring neural criticality as a modifiable factor in Alzheimer's progression. Mouse models and long-term recordings aim to identify early electrophysiological signatures that precede cognitive decline. Success could shift prevention strategies toward network-level sleep interventions rather than broad sleep hygiene alone.
If criticality breakdown proves predictive of vulnerability years before symptoms, as Hengen hypothesizes, early electrophysiological monitoring could identify at-risk individuals for targeted sleep interventions. The five-year timeline includes longitudinal recordings through aging and disease progression, with primary endpoints focused on cognitive task performance and network dynamics rather than surrogate pathology markers alone.
Hengen lab: Criticality metrics will predict cognitive decline at least 6 months earlier than plaque load in 70% of high-risk mice by study year 3.
Sources (2)
- [1]Primary Source(https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-awards-grants-neurodegenerative-disease-research-2025)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://elifesciences.org/articles/2024-hengen-wessel-criticality-sleep)