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In vitro platform for acoustic and electrophysiological investigations of ultrasound stimulation
(2017)
Since the first time discovered that ultrasound can influence neuronal activity - more than half a century ago - a lot of progress has been made in this field. The possibilities of ultrasound for neuromodulation have been demonstrated in many experiments such as in vivo stimulation of rodent brain or of human cochlear, Further, in vitro experiments with hippocampal slices and other cell types have been performed as well.
In Vitro Platform for Acoustic and Electrophysiological Investigations of Ultrasound Neuromodulation
(2017)
The quality of life has increased dramatically over the past decades. Approximately one billion individuals worldwide will be aged 65 years or older by 2030. With the increasing age of human population, prevalence of neurodegenerative ailments, such as Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease, increases. Brain pacemakers are proposed to treat their symptoms. They provide the electrical stimulation of neuronal regions of the central or peripheral nervous system. But for the implantation of brain pacemakers, surgery is needed. Those surgical interventions can be avoided by using transcranial stimulation methods such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). However, magnetic fields lack the possibility of focusing. Ultrasound (US) offers transcranial characteristics as well and allows focusing on a specific target area in the brain. Over 60 years ago, the Hodgkin-Huxley (H-H) model was presented to simulate the electrophysiological activity of neurons but it lacks to describe the impact of mechanical soundwaves on action potentials in a neuron.