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Synaptic mechanisms in post-stroke depression

Principal Investigator:
  • Jean-Claude Béïque, University of Ottawa
  • Heart and Stroke Foundation

Project Overview

Stroke affects 17% of people worldwide and some estimates predict that it will soon become the most common cause of death worldwide. Post-stroke depression impacts a significant portion of patients that suffered from a stroke. The consequences of post-stroke are immense and are a severe impairment in the path to recovery for these patients. This study specifically seeks to identify the neural basis of post-stroke depression. Past studies have identified regions of the brain that are key in regulating mood. It is however currently unclear how the function of these regions and its circuitry are altered following a stroke. For this project, Dr. Beique and his team will use number of highly sophisticated cellular electrophysiological and imaging approaches to determine how a stroke alters fundamental features of mood-related circuitries. They then plan to design strategies to circumvent the deleterious consequences of a stroke on their function. This work may identify drugable targets to meaningfully influence information flow through the brain’s mood-related circuits that have been influenced by a stroke.