Contact: Alison Canty 

There is a growing interest in potential clinical benefits of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to alter brain activity in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Magnetic coils placed over the brain, can induce electrical activity in the underlying brain circuitry, and simulate neural activity. The underlying mechanisms driving the effects of the stimulation are not well understood. This project uses rodent sized magnetic coils, transgenic mice that develop amyloid pathology (as a model of Alzhiemer’s disease) and multiphoton microscopy to view changes in brain circuity in real time in response to low intensity magnetic simulation.

Using mice with fluorescently labelled neurons in the brain, we can see individual synapses, points of communication between cells, and watch them over hours, days and weeks in the living brain. Most synapses remain stable, but others appear and disappear over time and represent changes in connectivity of the neural circuits. Synaptic decline is hallmark pathology of dementia, where frank loss of synapses causes loss of function. This project seeks to understand synaptic changes during disease progression of dementia, and to explore rTMS as a therapeutic approach to restore lost connectivity in the brain.

Objectives:

We aim to determine how rTMS affects brain circuitry by observing synaptic changes in the brain circuitry of young adult and aged adult mice, and to determine if rTMS can be used therapeutically to boost neuroplasticity and improve cognition in a brain affected by amyloid plaques mouse models of dementia (APP/PS1).

Research team:

• A/Prof Alison Canty
• Dr Bill Bennett
• Barbora Fulopova
• Ross Langley

Outputs: