40-Hz optogenetic stimulation rescues functional synaptic plasticity after stroke

Cong Wang; Caixia Lin; Yue Zhao; Montana Samantzis; Petra Sedlak; Pankaj Sah; Matilde Balbi

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113475

40-Hz optogenetic stimulation rescues functional synaptic plasticity after stroke

Cell Rep. 2023 Dec 26;42(12):113475. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113475. Epub 2023 Nov 17.

Authors

Cong Wang¹, Caixia Lin², Yue Zhao³, Montana Samantzis², Petra Sedlak², Pankaj Sah², Matilde Balbi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4067, Australia; Engineering Research Centre of Traditional Chinese Medicine Intelligent Rehabilitation, Ministry of Education, Shanghai 201203, China.
² Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4067, Australia.
³ Departments of Thoracic Surgery and State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Centre, Shanghai 200032, China; Institute of Thoracic Oncology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
⁴ Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4067, Australia. Electronic address: m.balbi@uq.edu.au.

PMID: 37979173
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113475

Abstract

Evoked brain oscillations in the gamma range have been shown to assist in stroke recovery. However, the causal relationship between evoked oscillations and neuroprotection is not well understood. We have used optogenetic stimulation to investigate how evoked gamma oscillations modulate cortical dynamics in the acute phase after stroke. Our results reveal that stimulation at 40 Hz drives activity in interneurons at the stimulation frequency and phase-locked activity in principal neurons at a lower frequency, leading to increased cross-frequency coupling. In addition, 40-Hz stimulation after stroke enhances interregional communication. These effects are observed up to 24 h after stimulation. Our stimulation protocol also rescues functional synaptic plasticity 24 h after stroke and leads to an upregulation of plasticity genes and a downregulation of cell death genes. Together these results suggest that restoration of cortical dynamics may confer neuroprotection after stroke.

Keywords: CP: Neuroscience; brain oscillations; cross-frequency coupling; functional plasticity; interneurons; interregional communication; optogenetic; stroke.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Interneurons / physiology
Neuronal Plasticity / physiology
Neurons / physiology
Optogenetics*
Stroke* / therapy