Abstract
Low-intensity ultrasound is an emerging modality for neuromodulation. Yet, transcranial neuromodulation using low-frequency piezo-based transducers offers poor spatial confinement of excitation volume, often bigger than a few millimeters in diameter. In addition, the bulky size limits their implementation in a wearable setting and prevents integration with other experimental modalities. Here, we report spatially confined optoacoustic neural stimulation through a miniaturized Fiber-Optoacoustic Converter (FOC). The FOC has a diameter of 600 μm and generates omnidirectional ultrasound wave locally at the fiber tip through the optoacoustic effect. We show that the acoustic wave generated by FOC can directly activate individual cultured neurons and generate intracellular Ca2+ transients. The FOC activates neurons within a radius of 500 μm around the fiber tip, delivering superior spatial resolution over conventional piezo-based low-frequency transducers. Finally, we demonstrate direct and spatially confined neural stimulation of mouse brain and modulation of motor activity in vivo.
Highlights
Low-intensity ultrasound is an emerging modality for neuromodulation
The stimulation is based on a novel fiber-optoacoustic converter (FOC) that generates omnidirectional low-frequency ultrasound pulses emitting from a coated fiber tip
By time-resolved calcium imaging, we demonstrate that the Fiber-Optoacoustic Converter (FOC) can reliably produce neural activation within a 500 μm radius from the FOC tip in cultured neurons
Summary
Low-intensity ultrasound is an emerging modality for neuromodulation. Yet, transcranial neuromodulation using low-frequency piezo-based transducers offers poor spatial confinement of excitation volume, often bigger than a few millimeters in diameter. We report spatially confined optoacoustic neural stimulation through a miniaturized Fiber-Optoacoustic Converter (FOC). The FOC has a diameter of 600 μm and generates omnidirectional ultrasound wave locally at the fiber tip through the optoacoustic effect. The FOC activates neurons within a radius of 500 μm around the fiber tip, delivering superior spatial resolution over conventional piezo-based low-frequency transducers. We demonstrate direct and spatially confined neural stimulation of mouse brain and modulation of motor activity in vivo. We report the use of acoustic waves generated by the optoacoustic process for direct and spatially confined neural stimulation both in culture and in vivo in a functional brain. The stimulation is based on a novel fiber-optoacoustic converter (FOC) that generates omnidirectional low-frequency ultrasound pulses emitting from a coated fiber tip. We demonstrate functional modulation of the motor cortex by showing that FOC can evoke motor responses with high-spatial precision
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