Abstract
(1) Background: Ultrasound has been used for noninvasive stimulation and is a promising technique for treating neurological diseases. Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder, that is attributed to uncontrollable abnormal neuronal hyperexcitability. Abnormal synchronized activities can be observed across multiple brain regions during a seizure. (2) Methods: we used low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) to sonicate the brains of epileptic rats, analyzed the EEG functional brain network to explore the effect of LIFU on the epileptic brain network, and continued to explore the mechanism of ultrasound neuromodulation. LIFU was used in the hippocampus of epileptic rats in which a seizure was induced by kainic acid. (3) Results: By comparing the brain network characteristics before and after sonication, we found that LIFU significantly impacted the functional brain network, especially in the low-frequency band. The brain network connection strength across multiple brain regions significantly decreased after sonication compared to the connection strength in the control group. The brain network indicators (the path length, clustering coefficient, small-worldness, local efficiency and global efficiency) all changed significantly in the low-frequency. (4) Conclusions: These results revealed that LIFU could reduce the network connections of epilepsy circuits and change the structure of the brain network at the whole-brain level.
Highlights
Ultrasound is widely used in physiotherapy and medical diagnostics
low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) was used in the hippocampus of epileptic rats in which a seizure was induced by kainic acid
(3) Results: By comparing the brain network characteristics before and after sonication, we found that LIFU significantly impacted the functional brain network, especially in the low-frequency band
Summary
Ultrasound is widely used in physiotherapy and medical diagnostics. Ultrasound neuromodulation for brain stimulation does not require surgery or genetic alteration, but it provides superior spatial resolution and depth penetration compared to other noninvasive methods. From the perspective of the epileptic circuit, the formation of a single epileptic focus cannot necessarily cause a seizure, and the epileptic circuit is the physical and physiological basis of seizures [13]. This indicates that seizures might be a more complex network and that different brain regions play different roles in the evolution of epilepsy. Brain functional connectivity provides more important information than analyzing the changes in neuronal activity in the local brain region, complex network theory is a very powerful tool that can reveal the mechanism and characteristics of brain structure and function that have not been revealed by past analysis methods
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