Event Abstract Back to Event Electric field modulation of long-term plastic effects Belen Lafon1*, Davide Reato1, Asif Rahman1, Marom Bikson1 and Lucas C. Parra1 1 City College of the City University of New York, United States Transcranial electrical stimulation in humans can lead to electric fields of at most 1V/m on the cortical surface. This may polarize cell membranes by a fraction of a milivolt. While these intensities seem very small, there are a number of in vitro experiments explaining the basic mechanisms by which such low-amplitude electric fields may nevertheless acutely alter neuronal activity, both at the single cell and at the network level . However, the long-term plastic effects which have been repeatedly observed clinically are less understood. Here we are particularly interested in the effects of slow-oscillating stimulation during sleep which were shown to boost the consolidation of hippocampus-dependent declarative memory. How synaptic connections are modified resulting in a memory improvement is still unknown. Currently, two main complementary hypotheses exist regarding consolidation of memory during sleep. The synaptic homeostasis hypothesis conjunctures that consolidation is in part a result of synaptic downscaling that improves the signal-to-noise ratio for all synapses that were potentiated during prior waking experiences. The active system consolidation hypothesis proposes an active consolidation process where learning-specific synaptic connections are strengthened by means of increased plasticity-related immediate early gene transcription and induction of LTP. Slow-oscillating stimulation might be improving memory consolidation by means of modulating synaptic downscaling and/or learning-specific synaptic connections. Current results of our group show that this low-amplitude fields induced an effect on the homeostatic downscaling of endogenous slow-waves during sleep. However, the modulation LTP processes related to the potentiation of learning related synapses has not yet been studied for such fields. Previous studies show that electrical stimulation coupled with ongoing activity in the brain induces plasticity, here we will focus on the modulation of LTP processes while applying acutely several low-amplitude field configurations. Thus linking the long-term behavioral effects with acute electrical stimulation. References Nature. 2006 Nov 30;444(7119):610-3. Epub 2006 Nov 5. Boosting slow oscillations during sleep potentiates memory. Marshall L, Helgadóttir H, Mölle M, Born J. Sleep Med Rev. 2006 Feb;10(1):49-62. Epub 2005 Dec 22. Sleep function and synaptic homeostasis. Tononi G, Cirelli C. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010 Feb;11(2):114-26. Epub 2010 Jan 4. The memory function of sleep. Diekelmann S, Born J. Keywords: plasticity, Electrical Stimulation, Sleep, long term potentiation, HIPPOCAMPUS AND MEMORY Conference: Bernstein Conference 2012, Munich, Germany, 12 Sep - 14 Sep, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Learning, plasticity, memory Citation: Lafon B, Reato D, Rahman A, Bikson M and Parra LC (2012). Electric field modulation of long-term plastic effects. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Bernstein Conference 2012. doi: 10.3389/conf.fncom.2012.55.00035 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Jun 2012; Published Online: 12 Sep 2012. * Correspondence: Miss. Belen Lafon, City College of the City University of New York, New York, United States, belulafon@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Belen Lafon Davide Reato Asif Rahman Marom Bikson Lucas C Parra Google Belen Lafon Davide Reato Asif Rahman Marom Bikson Lucas C Parra Google Scholar Belen Lafon Davide Reato Asif Rahman Marom Bikson Lucas C Parra PubMed Belen Lafon Davide Reato Asif Rahman Marom Bikson Lucas C Parra Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.