PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Esmaeilpour, Zeinab AU - Jackson, Mark AU - Kronberg, Greg AU - Zhang, Tianhe AU - Esteller, Rosana AU - Hershey, Brad AU - Bikson, Marom TI - Limited Sensitivity of Hippocampal Synaptic Function or Network Oscillations to Unmodulated Kilohertz Electric Fields AID - 10.1523/ENEURO.0368-20.2020 DP - 2020 Nov 01 TA - eneuro PG - ENEURO.0368-20.2020 VI - 7 IP - 6 4099 - http://www.eneuro.org/content/7/6/ENEURO.0368-20.2020.short 4100 - http://www.eneuro.org/content/7/6/ENEURO.0368-20.2020.full SO - eNeuro2020 Nov 01; 7 AB - Understanding the cellular mechanisms of kilohertz (kHz) electrical stimulation is of broad interest in neuromodulation including forms of transcranial electrical stimulation, interferential stimulation, and high-rate spinal cord stimulation (SCS). Yet, the well-established low-pass filtering by neuronal membranes suggests minimal neuronal polarization in respond to charge-balanced kHz stimulation. The hippocampal brain slice model is among the most studied systems in neuroscience and exhaustively characterized in screening the effects of electrical stimulation. High-frequency electric fields of varied amplitudes (1–150 V/m), waveforms (sinusoidal, symmetrical pule, asymmetrical pulse) and frequencies (1 and10 kHz) were tested. Changes in single or paired-pulse field EPSPs (fEPSP) in CA1 were measured in response to radial-directed and tangential-directed electric fields, with brief (30 s) or long (30 min) application times. The effects of kHz stimulation on ongoing endogenous network activity were tested in carbachol-induced γ oscillation of CA3a and CA3c. Across 23 conditions evaluated, no significant changes in fEPSP were resolved, while responses were detected for within-slice control direct current (DC) fields; 1-kHz sinusoidal and pulse stimulation (≥60 V/m), but not 10 kHz, induced changes in oscillating neuronal network. We thus report no responses to low-amplitude 1-kHz or any 10-kHz fields, suggesting that any brain sensitivity to these fields is via yet to be-determined mechanism(s) of action which were not identified in our experimental preparation.