Transcranial Focal Stimulation modifies the genetic expression in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus of healthy rats

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (TES) has emerged as an alternative therapy for cognitive and neuropsychiatric diseases. Transcranial Focal Stimulation (TFS) is an alternating current stimulation TES technique with a wide therapeutic potential. Nevertheless, the biological mechanisms behind the TFS effects are unknown. Objective: The present study aims to describe the gene expression profile of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus after a short course of TFS. Method: ology Using microarray analysis, the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of rats receiving TFS for 5 minutes were evaluated. These results were compared to those obtained from sham-stimulated rats. Relevant target genes were selected based on their biological processes, molecular function, and cellular localization. Relevant target genes were further normalized to visualize differential gene expression among experimental groups. Results: The cerebral cortex samples found a clear differential expression profile. A total of differentially expressed genes of 102 in the cerebral cortex and 2 in the hippocampus were found. TFS increased the expression of Nsf (120%, p = 0.0004) and decreased the expression of Sema3b (57.6%, p = 0.0004) in the cerebral cortex. While in the hippocampus, TFS increased the expression of Acsm5 (200%, p = 0.001) and Cml3 (208%, p = 0.001). Conclusion: A short course of TFS modifies the gene expression profile of the brain. The effects were more pronounced in the cerebral cortex rather than in the hippocampus. Further research is needed to validate these findings and to evaluate the long-term effects of TFS.