WASHINGTON: Scientists have succeeded to activate brain cells by using sounds waves in a small worm. They used ultrasound to trigger activity in specific neurons, causing the worms to change direction.
As well as requiring a particular gene to be expressed in the brain cells, the technique bathes the animals in tiny bubbles to amplify the sound waves.
These complications temper the technique’s promise for controlling brain activity in a non-invasive way.
The researchers said that their new method for controlling brain cells could improve on “optogenetics”, a technique that uses light rather than sound.
The problem with light is that it cannot penetrate through tissues – it is scattered very quickly. Consequently, using optogenetics to control brain circuits in a mammal currently requires a fibre-optic implant.
“This could be a big advantage when you want to stimulate a region deep in the brain,” said the study’s first author Stuart Ibsen, from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California.
