CEREBRO was designed according to the principles of discovery-based science and aims to comprehensively describe and characterize the acute, sub-chronic, and after-effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on the composition of the secretome in the prefrontal cortex of adult male Wistar rats. iTBS is a specific type of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation which provides painless and non-invasive brain stimulation and has shown promising therapeutic effects on a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders in both animal and clinical studies.
The ambition of the CEREBRO project is to provide important insights into the complex interplay between iTBS and brain neurochemistry which are essential to appropriately optimize the existing protocol and understand the therapeutic benefits already reported, but also pave the way for new therapeutic implications. The results of the project will represent a novel research breakthrough in understanding the mechanism of iTBS action by establishing a unique temporal neurochemical profile of the interstial brain fluid secretome.