Bidirectional synaptic plasticity fEPSP main data

Musical stimulation can activate specific brain regions and modulate neural functions, whereas optical and magnetic stimulation technologies enable precise neuronal manipulation. However, traditional neural stimulation approaches mostly adopts a single mode, and researches on their combined regulatory effects are still limited. This study innovatively combines two physical stimulation modalities—light and magnetic fields—using musical signals as the modulation source to explore their synergistic effects on synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal Schaffer-CA1 region of rats. We designed a high spatial resolution light-magnetic stimulation system, which involves the generation and power amplification of analog audio signals, optimization of the front-end stimulation coil and laser emission terminal, and real-time monitoring of output current as well as acquisition and analysis of musical signals. Utilizing this system, in vitro brain slice experiments were conducted, applying single-light, single-magnetic, and combined light-magnetic stimulation respectively. Changes in long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) were recorded. The experimental results showed that the combined light-magnetic stimulation, when synchronized with specific musical rhythms, exhibited the optimal regulatory effects on both LTP and LTD, outperforming single stimulation modes. This finding indicates that the synergistic effect of multiple physical fields can more effectively modulate synaptic plasticity. This study provides new insights for neural regulation technologies and lays a foundation for exploring the role of musical features in neural plasticity.