A joint research team from Hong Kong discovered that the electrical stimulation of the eye cornea (transcorneal electrical stimulation or TES), can alleviate depression-like symptoms and improve cognitive function in animal models.

TES activates brain pathways, resulted in remarkable antidepressant-like effects and reduced stress hormones in an animal model for depression. This technique induced the expression of genes involved in the growth of brain cells in the hippocampus.

This non-invasive stimulation also drastically improved memory performance and reduced beta-amyloid deposits in the hippocampus of mice.