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Authors & Affiliations
Montana Samantzis, Georgie Moore, Dylan Black, Phoebe Mayne, Matilde Balbi
Abstract
Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability worldwide, however, current therapeutics are limited. Decreases in neuronal oscillatory power, particularly in the gamma frequency band, are commonly seen following ischemia. Previous research in mice has demonstrated that optogenetic stimulation in this gamma frequency range, specifically at 40Hz, is beneficial for recovery post-stroke. However, this treatment option is not easily translated to human patients. Here we investigated the effects of 40Hz non-invasive electrical brain stimulation as a potential therapeutic to restore motor impairment following a photothrombotic stroke to the primary motor cortex and somatosensory cortex in awake mice. We also investigated potential effects of this stimulation on brain network dynamics using mesoscale cortex-wide imaging and electrophysiology recordings. Mice that received 40Hz stimulation had significantly improved motor performance on the Neurodefecit Score (NDS) within 24 hours following stroke, suggesting it’s immediate neuroprotective effects. During 40Hz stimulation we observed a significant increase in oxygenated haemoglobin levels when compared to stimulation performed at a random frequency. Longitudinally following stroke, we mea0sured a significant increase in blood flow levels following 40Hz stimulation. Moreover, we observed network-wide alterations including increased correlations between cortical regions following electrical stimulation. Together, our results suggest that non-invasive electrical stimulation can affect neuronal activity and motor behaviour of mice following stroke and may be a promising target for therapeutical intervention.