title: Transcranial pulsed ultrasound stimulates intact brain circuits.
abstract: Electromagnetic-based methods of stimulating brain activity require invasive procedures or have other limitations. Deep-brain stimulation requires surgically implanted electrodes. Transcranial magnetic stimulation does not require surgery, but suffers from low spatial resolution. Optogenetic-based approaches have unrivaled spatial precision, but require genetic manipulation. In search of a potential solution to these limitations, we began investigating the influence of transcranial pulsed ultrasound on neuronal activity in the intact mouse brain. In motor cortex, ultrasound-stimulated neuronal activity was sufficient to evoke motor behaviors. Deeper in subcortical circuits, we used targeted transcranial ultrasound to stimulate neuronal activity and synchronous oscillations in the intact hippocampus. We found that ultrasound triggers TTX-sensitive neuronal activity in the absence of a rise in brain temperature (<0.01 degrees C). Here, we also report that transcranial pulsed ultrasound for intact brain circuit stimulation has a lateral spatial resolution of approximately 2 mm and does not require exogenous factors or surgical invasion.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Yusuf
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tufail
authors.forename: Alexei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matyushov
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.forename: Monica L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Tauchmann
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Georges
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshihiro
authors.forename: Stephen I Helms
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Tillery
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Tyler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D014465:Ultrasonics; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial / Q000379:methods