Marta Alonso Gardon

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

PREPRINT 🚨 You know that feeling when you're jamming out to your favorite song (say, La Macarena 💃) and suddenly it skips, or a completely random remix drops out of nowhere? That everyday surprise tells us something profound about how our brain works! 1/24

[Marta Alonso Gardon @malonsga]

So happy to see this work finally out! Astrocytes, cilia and stress! Congrats Sara and the team!

[nature @Nature]

Nature research paper: Amygdala astrocyte primary cilium mechanisms contribute to stress behaviours

https://t.co/DjRUA2sxuR

[Neuron @NeuroCellPress]

Online now: On astrocyte-neuron interactions: Broad insights from the striatum https://t.co/BAO9yRj48a

[Marta Alonso Gardon @malonsga]

@zenbrainest Gprc5b

[nature @Nature]

Nature research paper: Astrocyte–neuron subproteomes and obsessive–compulsive disorder mechanisms https://t.co/J9YwoQ0IEI

[Baljit Khakh @baljit_khakh]

https://t.co/iRsi8xaJvr

Delighted for my PhD student, Joselyn Soto, on her fabulous work that went online today!

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

Hopefully, these results can improve tDCS effects and its efficacy for the treatment of different conditions, specially since the human brain is also highly convoluted and neurons have widely different orientations 12/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

Finally, we used Neuropixel recordings to corroborate these results in simultaneously recorded neurons which have opposite orientations in the cerebellum, also corroborating the effect in behaving condition 11/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

While neurons pointing away from the electrode decrease⬇️their activity for anodal stimulation and increase⬆️for cathodal. This phenomenon could be explained by the polarization of the neuron and changes in membrane resting potential (more in the paper) 10/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

Matching the orientation of the neurons with their modulation under tDCS, we discovered that their orientation was a key factor determining tDCS effects, with neurons pointing toward the electrode increasing⬆️their activity for anodal stimulation and decreasing⬇️for cathodal 9/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

To solve this puzzle, we performed juxtacellular labelling of the recorded neurons in anesthetized mice, obtaining these awesome images: 8/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

We observed this heterogeneous modulation in all types of neurons in the cerebellum, among them the Purkinje cells, which are particularly interesting since they are the only output from the cerebellar cortex 7/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

But, at the same time other neurons were modulated in just the opposite way, with anodal decreasing⬇️but cathodal increasing⬆️their activity 6/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

To address this, we applied tDCS and record the activity of individual neurons in behaving mice🐭. As expected, we observed neurons increasing⬆️their activity under➕electrical currents (anodal tDCS, red) and decreasing during➖currents (cathodal tDCS, blue) 5/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

Nonetheless, despite the simplicity of the technique, the results can be highly variable between persons and sessions, partly because we still know very little about how this electrical currents are affecting the neuronal activity 4/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

This non-invasive neurostimulation is called transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) and can improve our learning abilities or the perception of a sensory stimulus, as well as some symptoms of brain disorders 3/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

https://t.co/F6s5TfB96o
Our neurons are electrical cells, meaning they can generate and transmit electricity, so, what would happen if we place a couple of electrodes on top of your head and pass a weak electrical current through your brain (so weak that you barely notice)? 2/13

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

https://t.co/F6s5TfB96o

[Carlos A. Sánchez León @CarlosASLeon]

PREPRINT🚨Ever wonder how electrical⚡️ stimulation of the brain🧠modulates neuronal activity? Are you working with brain stim and variability makes you want to smash your pc and go to a mountain to grow tomatoes? Are you a family member or a friend who really appreciate me? 1/13

[Marta Alonso Gardon @malonsga]

@bbb__AAAA Tho juro que no ho veig