The Design And Experimential Research Of Brain Modulation System Based On Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation

Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (tUS) is a neuromodulation technology, whichcan produce biophysical effects on nerve cell resulting in the changes in neuronalelectrical and biochemical signals via low intensive and focused ultrasound. Comparedwith Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), tUShas the advantage of non-invasive, higher spatial resolution and deeper transmission, andthus has potential for the treatment and rehabilitation of brain disease.A tUS animal platform was designed for the experimental research in normal anddiseased animal model. The platform mainly composed of computer, ultrasonic receiverand emitter, three-dimensional scanning station, ultrasound transducer and neural signalacquisition system. Focused piezo transducer was chosen according to spatial resolutionand stimulative intensity required by brain tissue. The ultrasound parameters used inexperiment can be adjusted on computer, which can display acquired signals on the sametime.Animal experiments were performed using our designed tUS platform. One of theexperiments was to record electromyography (EMG) when the motor cortex area wasstimulated by tUS. The wavelet denoising was used to process and analyze the EMGsignal. Our results demonstrate that the low-intensity focused ultrasound can induceEMG signals, suggesting that tUS can be used as a noninvasive brain neuromodulationmethod. tUS was also used to test whether it can improve the symptom of Parkingson’sDisease (PD) model. MDA, SOD and GSH kits was used to evaluate the oxidativestress in brain tissue. Behavior study was performed through an evaluate system with apole test. The results demonstrate that low-intensity focused ultrasound can improvemotor function in PD mice via a possible mechanism of its anti-oxidative capacity toreduce oxidative damage to the neurons.A Portable ultrasonic stimulator was designed for human neural modulation, we canchange the ultrasound parameters conveniently through the TFT screen, it has theadvantage of adjusting multiply parameters and displaying ultrasonic signals on real time. The stimulator concludes driver part, signal acquisition part and human machineinterface(HMI), it is helpful for the application of tUS neural modulation technology tothe clinic research in the future.