[의학신문·일간보사=차원준 기자] “The study of sleep and dementia can be expressed as a study that optimizes brain function when combined.”
Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) Department of Biomedical Engineering Professor Kim Tae is a psychiatrist, but does not provide medical treatment, but is a researcher dedicated to brain function optimization research.
In the meantime, he has been attracting attention as an expert in this field by frequently publishing related research papers by focusing on ‘research on devices that can replace sleeping pills with light’.
Professor Kim Tae said, “We are slowly solving various problems so that it can be released as a product, and we have recently decided on the shape of the product, but now we are cautious about the full disclosure.” He carefully introduced the advanced research trend.
Regarding the characteristics of this device that promotes sleep, Professor Kim said, “There are cells that promote sleep and cells that wake up in the brain. Because it only activates cells, it can make you fall asleep.”
He added, “This method of producing a sleeping substance by emitting light can strike more precisely than sleeping pills, so the intensity of sleep is stronger and longer.” “Natural sleep without side effects refreshes the body.”
Regarding what kind of light is applied, he said, “It uses infrared rays, which are good at penetrating the body, rather than the basic light of red saffron wave Nambo.” “If you are active and fatigued, ‘adenosine’ increases and energy ATP is generated as a by-product. “It makes sleep well and increases sleep pressure when ATP increases,” said the principle.
Here, he continued, “Patients with psychiatric disorders have problems with sleep, so they tend to sleep well when their condition improves.
Regarding dementia, Professor Kim said, “Dementia is the number one disease that the elderly fear the most. This is because the cause of dementia is unknown. are doing,” he said.
“The dementia research differs from previous studies in that the brain is directly stimulated with ultrasound instead of sound or light,” he said. It is a frequency that cannot be used, so there is relatively little discomfort.”
Regarding the dementia experiment, “Gamma-wave synchronization therapy, which converts ultrasonic waves into gamma waves, activates microglia, immune cells in the brain when the brain is stimulated with a frequency in the gamma region, and it is reported that the phagocytic action of these cells increases.” In other words, it was confirmed that amyloid beta was converted into a form that microglia can remove and that microglia were activated in the experiment.”
In the case of sleep, ATP increases and in the case of dementia, microglia increase. Regarding the correlation between sleep and dementia, Professor Kim said, “If you treat dementia while sleeping, the effect is better.”
In response to this, when a device that promotes good sleep and a device that treats dementia are used at the same time, that is, when asked whether one device can have two effects, he said, “The study of sleep and dementia is a study of brain function optimization.” The ultimate goal will be to develop a ‘brain function optimization device’ that combines the two functions,” he laughed.
Recently, Professor Tae Kim’s team conducted a collaborative study with Seoul National University Bundang Hospital to study vitamin D deficiency and sleep problems. He also revealed that he could go crazy.
The clinical analysis showed that the lower the vitamin D level, the lower the blood calcium concentration in both the shift and the non-shift workers group. confirmed that it may affect
In addition, vitamin D deficiency can increase the level of amyloid beta in brain tissue, which is one of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease through pathological changes in the expression of various genes, cause memory deterioration, and reduce neurodegenerative changes when vitamin D supplementation is performed. confirmed that it can.
In response, Professor Kim Tae said that vitamin D deficiency is a factor that can worsen sleep disorders or Alzheimer’s dementia, and the possibility of its treatment was discovered through clinical trials and mouse trials. He said that it could be an easy and safe way to achieve the effect of one stone and two groups.
The discovery of a device that makes you sleep well, a device that can prevent and treat dementia, and vitamin D that solves both sleep and dementia at the same time, his research raises expectations about how far the human brain can be optimized.
Professor Tae Kim graduated from Kyunghee University. And he completed an internship and residency in the Department of Mental Health Medicine at Kyunghee Medical Center, and obtained a psychiatrist in 2004, and received a Ph.D. in Psychogenetics from Kyunghee Medical University.
After that, he served as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the Psychiatry Lab of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, as a full-time sleep doctor at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, an assistant clinical professor at Gangdong Kyunghee University Hospital, an assistant professor at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, and was recently promoted to an associate professor at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology.