Homeostatic metaplasticity in primary somatosensory cortex

Introduction: Long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) are regulated by homeostatic control mechanisms to maintain synaptic strength in a physiological range. While homeostatic plasticity has been demonstrated in human motor cortex, little is known to which extent it operates in other cortical areas and how it relates to behavior. In this study we tested homeostatic interactions between two stimulation protocols – paired associative stimulation (PAS) and peripheral high frequency stimulation (pHFS) in the human somatosensory system. Methods: PAS employed repeated pairs of electrical stimulatio…