Ultrasound Produces Extensive Brain Activation via a Cochlear Pathway
Ultrasound Produces Extensive Brain Activation via a Cochlear Pathway
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.neuron.2018.04.036
复制
发表时间：
2018-06-06
期刊：
影响因子：
16.2
通讯作者：
Lim, Hubert H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Guo, Hongsun;Hamilton, Mark, II;Lim, Hubert H.
超声（US）能够无创地激活完整的脑回路，使其成为一种有前景的神经调节技术。然而，人们对其潜在机制知之甚少。在此，我们应用经颅超声，并利用细胞外电生理学在豚鼠身上进行脑图谱研究。我们发现超声能在皮质和皮质下脑区引发广泛的激活。然而，切断听神经或移除耳蜗液体会消除超声诱导的活动，这揭示了超声神经激活的一种间接听觉机制。我们的研究结果表明，超声通过耳蜗通路激活上行听觉系统，该系统可通过跨模态投射激活其他非听觉区域。这种耳蜗通路机制对超声可直接激活完整大脑中的神经元这一观点提出了挑战，这意味着未来的超声刺激研究需要控制这种效应以得出可靠的结论。
Ultrasound (US) can noninvasively activate intact brain circuits, making it a promising neuromodulation technique. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism. Here, we apply transcranial US and perform brain mapping studies in guinea pigs using extracellular electrophysiology. We find that US elicits extensive activation across cortical and subcortical brain regions. However, transection of the auditory nerves or removal of cochlear fluids eliminates the US-induced activity, revealing an indirect auditory mechanism for US neural activation. Our findings indicate that US activates the ascending auditory system through a cochlear pathway, which can activate other non-auditory regions through cross-modal projections. This cochlear pathway mechanism challenges the idea that US can directly activate neurons in the intact brain, suggesting that future US stimulation studies will need to control for this effect to reach reliable conclusions.