Trio of methods steers mouse brain

Abstract

Deep-brain regions are implicated in movement disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other conditions. Despite many advances in neuroscience, tools remain limited for reaching deeper regions of the brain without surgery. Now, a team led by Mikhail Shapiro at California Institute of Technology reports an approach in which ultrasound, genetic engineering, and a synthetic drug work together to control deep parts of the brain in a selective and noninvasive way. The researchers tested their technology in mice, but their ultimate goal is to use it as an alternative to surgery for humans (Nat. Biomed. Eng. 2018, DOI: 10.1038/s41551-018-0258-2). Currently, physicians treat certain brain diseases by stimulating deep-brain regions with implanted electrodes, Shapiro says. He and his coworkers used a nonsurgical approach to turn off neurons in a deep-brain region known as the hippocampus, which is key for memory formation. In the mouse study, the researchers first opened the blood-brain barrier, which keeps