Selective control of synaptic plasticity and stabilizing post-stimulation oscillatory dynamics in neuronal populations.

Aref Pariz

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (tMS) are non-invasive treatments for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders such as chronic pain or major depression and have received increased attention in the past decades. Although amplified interest and reports about their effectiveness, little is known about the way they engage and interfere with both individual and populations of neurons. Ubiquitous neural diversity and heterogeneity, related to morphology, function, and intrinsic cellular features, result in widely distinctive responses to stimuli, and thus may well influence the effectiveness of therapeutic approaches. Through the modulation of endogenous oscillations, periodic brain stimulation (PBS) techniques may engage synaptic plasticity, hopefully leading to persistent lasting effects. we examined how spike-timing-dependent plasticity, at the level of cells, intra- and inter-laminar cortical networks, can be selectively and preferentially engaged by periodic stimulation. Using leaky integrate-and-fire neuron models, in silico, we analyzed cortical circuits comprised of multiple cell-types, alongside superficial multi-layered networks expressing distinct layer-specific timescales. Our results show that mismatch in neuronal timescales within and/or between cells—and the resulting variability in excitability, temporal integration properties, and frequency tuning—enables selective and directional control of synaptic connectivity by PBS. We also have explored the conditions on which PBS leads to amplified post-stimulation oscillatory power, persisting once stimulation has been turned off.

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