Cell and Brain Stimulation
Ultrasound is promising technique to overcome limitations of conventional techniques such as the implantation of electrodes. Ultrasound stimulation can elicit brain activation in specific regions by delivering acoustic energy into focal regions. Miniaturized transducer makes it possible to simultaneously monitor neuronal activities with optical methods.
Astrocytes in the brain closely respond to the ultrasonic stimulation. It is founded that a calcium channel expressed in astrocytes to be a highly sensitive target for ultrasound-induced neuronal activities in the motor cortex. We study not only brain stimulation but also cell stimulation for studying response at the cellular level.
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Related Paper: T. Choi, et al., " A soft housing needle ultrasonic transducer for focal stimulation to small animal brain," Ann. Biomed. Eng., 2019.