Neuromodulation and homeostatic processes

The brain is inarguably the most complex organ in the body, and disruption to brain activity can have fatal consequences for the organism.

The brain’s resilience relies on high levels of redundancy to ensure continued function under most circumstances, as well as built-in homeostatic mechanisms to stabilise neural activity and maintain interhemispheric and excitatory/inhibitory balance.

Following stroke, direct tissue damage and disconnection of remote brain areas causes functional disruption that can span multiple domains. Inhibitory neurons have a primary role in post stroke recovery for their ability to modulate brain plasticity in both the perilesional region and remote areas. Our recent work shows that optogenetically induced gamma frequency entrainment, targeting interneurons, offers neuroprotection after stroke.