“Brain control is coming?†New technology that stimulates deep areas of the brain without craniotomy
Release date: 2016-12-08 Researchers continue to explore non-invasive methods that reach deeper areas of the brain. The original text is titled External brain stimulation goes deep Published on the "Nature" news on November 22, 2016 Original author: Sara Reardon Applying current to the mouse skull provides insight into the deeper regions of the brain that do not rely on surgery. A new technology may allow researchers and clinicians to stimulate deep areas of the brain without having to craniotomy, such as areas related to memory and emotion. Brain stimulation techniques that place electrodes on the human scalp are relatively safe, and proponents believe that this approach can also enhance some of the functional functions of the human brain, including improving IQ and relieving depression; some of the ideas received research support far greater than the rest. But this technology is also limited, unable to reach the deep areas of the brain. In contrast, implant devices used in deep brain stimulation (DBS) have been more successful in changing deep areas of the brain. However, these devices require surgery, are risky, and are difficult to repair if functional abnormalities occur. At the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurosciences in November, neuroscientist Nir Grossman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues demonstrated their experimental approach to improving transcranial stimulation (TCS) to reach deeper regions of the brain. This method uses an electrode placed on the scalp to send an electrical signal to the brain, which eliminates the need for surgery by manipulating the current. The team used a stimulation device to apply two currents to the skull behind the mouse's ear and adjust them to slightly different high frequencies, then adjust the angle of the independent current to make it meet in the hippocampus. The neurons in the brain respond only to low frequency currents, so high frequency currents do not affect the tissue. But at the intersection of the currents, they largely cancel each other out, and the neurons interpret the remaining differences between the two frequencies as a low-frequency electric field, and thus react to discharge. After dissecting the mouse brain, the researchers found that cells in the hippocampus produced a discharge, while cells in the outer layer of the brain did not. Human testing phase Alvaro Pascual-Leone, a neuroscientist at Grossman, a collaborator at Grossman, said that they are currently conducting human experiments on volunteers. Volunteers lie in brain scanners, and at the same time, researchers can monitor changes in their response to TCS in their hippocampus. But researchers have not tested whether this stimulus can affect behavior, such as improving performance in memory tests. Grossman said the technology also requires a lot of adjustments and tests, especially the inaccuracy of the electric field: it seems to cause most areas of the hippocampus in rats to be stimulated. Dr. Angel Peterchev, a neuroengineer at Duke University, expressed doubts about the technology. He pointed out that there is evidence that the frequency used by Grossman et al. is still too low to pass through the brain without leaving traces, which may lead to some off-target effects. "(This technology) still has a long way to go," said Joel Voss, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University's Fenberg School of Medicine. His team is using a similar approach, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), to activate the surface neurons of the brain and direct them to transmit signals along the nerve bundle until they reach deep areas of the brain. In this way, they can target the hippocampus and temporarily improve the memory of healthy volunteers. Fill in the gap Voss said he doesn't like the TCS method because it's not stable enough, but he's happy to see people actively researching ways to stimulate deep areas of the brain without implants or surgery. “I think there is a huge demand in this area,†he said. Pascual-Leone acknowledges that these concerns are not unreasonable and that his team is trying to increase the accuracy of the technique by changing the frequency or by using drugs to activate specific types of cells to enhance their responsiveness to stimuli. “The potential of it makes me very excited,†he said. But he also realized that the technology has not achieved the desired results. Helen Mayberg, a psychiatrist at Emory University, believes that transcranial stimulation does not replace implants in the short term, especially if DBS therapy is effective for many people. "For the time being, we are still in good hands," she said. She said that in another decade, doctors may be expected to stop using such invasive methods. Source: Nature Natural Science Research dry flowers Guangzhou Zhongzhinan Supply Chain Co.,Ltd. , https://www.zhongzhinanlighting.com
