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project info
Start date: 1 March 2019
End date: 30 June 2023
funding
Fund: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
Total budget: 916 357,20 €
EU contribution: 451 505,10 € (49,27%)
programme
Programming period: 2014-2021
Managing authority: Conseil régional Centre-Val de Loire
beneficiary

Development of a medical device to treat Major Depression with the help of focal and repeated transcranial ultrasound stimulations

Major depression is a major public health problem, both because of its high incidence (estimated at 15 % of the world population), its comorbidity and the importance of non-response/resistance to drug therapies by antidepressants (about 50 % of patients do not respond to treatments, even when the dose has been optimised and patients are compliant). The objective of this project is to develop a brain stimulation device using a transcranial and focal repeated ultrasonic stimulation technique. Indeed, this technique allows to stimulate, in a focal way, deep regions of the brain, in a non-invasive way, and without impacting the functioning of brain regions located above the focal point. It has already been shown that this stimulation is effective in mice in the treatment of depression, but it is now a question of testing it in large animals, closer to humans with regard to the anatomy of the cranial bone and the brain and elucidating the underlying mechanisms. At the end of this project, the mechanisms engaged in the rodent, the characteristics of stimulation in the non-human primate and its safety will be known. The first clinical trials in humans can be undertaken.

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