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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Stimul. 2016 Oct 5;10(1):51–58. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2016.10.001

Figure 1. DCS shifts synaptic plasticity in apical dendrites towards potentiation.

Figure 1

A: Schematic depicts cathodal DCS of a hippocampal slice, with expected membrane polarization of CA1 pyramidal neuron (enlarged at right; prediction based on computational model as in Rahman et al. 2013). Arrow indicates the direction of positive current flow between electric field wires placed in the recording chamber (horizontal bars above and below hippocampal slice). B: Cathodal DCS (blue) shifts the BCM-like frequency-response function towards potentiation. C-F: DCS applied during plasticity-inducing LFS attenuated LTD (C,D) and enhanced LTP (F), but the effect was not significant near the crossover point between LTD and LTP (E). Sample fEPSP traces are provided for each condition (grey/black: before/after control; light blue/blue: before/after cathodal; scale bars: 1 mV, 4 ms). Synaptic strength in (B) is the average of the last ten normalized fEPSP slopes in each condition (51-60 minutes post-induction). Grey bars indicate the duration of plasticity induction and concurrent DCS. Data are represented as mean ± SEM across slices. * = p < 0.05.