White Matter Changes Following Chronic Restraint Stress and Neuromodulation: A Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study in Young Male Rats

Changes in the rodent gut microbiome following chronic restraint stress and low-intensity rTMS

“…Using data collected from the same animals and published in previous studies ( Seewoo et al, 2019 , 2021 ), we correlated behavioural and MRI outcomes with the sub-taxa of interest identified in our current analysis. A key finding was that in the active LI-rTMS group, Fusicatenibacter and Roseburia were negatively correlated with swimming behaviour in the FST.…”

“…LI-rTMS was delivered at a frequency of 10 Hz using a custom-built round coil at an intensity of approximately 13 mT at the surface of the cortex, which is below the rodent's motor threshold ( Seewoo et al, 2018 ). Stimulation was delivered following an accelerated protocol: 3 times daily at 1-h intervals for 2 weeks ( Seewoo et al, 2019 , 2021 ). During the sham procedure, the coil was disconnected.…”

Accelerated low-intensity rTMS does not rescue anxiety behaviour or abnormal connectivity in young adult rats following chronic restraint stress

“…Following CRS, animals in the treatment groups received 3 sessions of active or sham 10 Hz stimulation per day (spaced 1 h apart), for 5 consecutive days per week, for 2 weeks. Each stimulation session consisted of 10 min of 10 Hz low-intensity stimulation, in line with previous animal studies ( Makowiecki et al, 2018 ; Moretti et al, 2020 ; Poh et al, 2019 ; Seewoo et al 2018 , 2019b , 2021a , 2021b ). For all animals, behavioural tests and magnetic resonance imaging procedures were conducted at baseline, after the chronic restraint stress period, midway through treatment, post-treatment, and at one-week and two-week follow-up time points ( Fig.…”

The Effects of Low-Intensity Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on White Matter Plasticity and Depression

“…In the current issue of Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science , Seewoo et al. ( 6 ) present a variety of approaches that combine brain imaging techniques and behavioral manipulations to investigate low-intensity rTMS (LI-rTMS)–induced brain white matter (WM) repair in a rodent model of depression.…”

“…Seewoo et al. ( 6 ) exposed juvenile rodents to 13 daily CRS sessions, each 2.5 hours in duration, to induce a depression syndrome. They then carried out diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) of these animals over a span of 4 weeks to assess ensuing WM changes resulting from the CRS procedure and compared them with WM changes in healthy unrestrained animals.…”