Abstract
Ultrasonic neuromodulation is a rapidly growing field, in which low-intensity ultrasound (US) is delivered to nervous system tissue, resulting in transient modulation of neural activity. This review summarizes the findings in the central and peripheral nervous systems from mechanistic studies in cell culture to cognitive behavioral studies in humans. The mechanisms by which US mechanically interacts with neurons and could affect firing are presented. An in-depth safety assessment of current studies shows that parameters for the human studies fall within the safety envelope for US imaging. Challenges associated with accurately targeting US and monitoring the response are described. In conclusion, the literature supports the use of US as a safe, non-invasive brain stimulation modality with improved spatial localization and depth targeting compared with alternative methods. US neurostimulation has the potential to be used both as a scientific instrument to investigate brain function and as a therapeutic modality to modulate brain activity.
Highlights
Brain stimulation techniques are vital tools to probe neurologic processes from a cellular scale all the way up to a systems level
Concluding remarks nerve impulses are often thought of as electrical signals, in reality they involve mechanical, thermal, chemical and conformational changes in the plasma membrane as well
We have described how acoustic perturbations have the potential to couple to these various aspects of cellular excitability and alter the conformational or thermodynamic state of the plasma membranes of cells, which could result in sufficient depolarization to trigger a nerve impulse or to suppress depolarization and inhibit nerve firing
Summary
Brain stimulation techniques are vital tools to probe neurologic processes from a cellular scale all the way up to a systems level Approaches such as the local injection of pharmacologic agents, like muscimol (Amiez et al 2006), micro-stimulation (Histed et al 2009) and optogenetics (Boyden 2011) allow for precise neural manipulation of individual cells or brain areas with high spatial precision in animal models. TES consists of placing electrodes on the scalp to deliver weak currents through the brain between the two electrodes Several variations of this method exist using either direct currents (Nitsche et al 2008), alternating currents (Herrmann et al 2013) or random noise (Terney et al 2008) as the stimulatory input.
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