公开(公告)号：US20120259249A1

公开(公告)日：2012-10-11

申请号：US13441650

申请日：2012-04-06

申请人： Butrus T. Khuri-Yakub ,  Omer Oralkan ,  Stephen A. Baccus ,  Michael D. Menz

发明人： Butrus T. Khuri-Yakub ,  Omer Oralkan ,  Stephen A. Baccus ,  Michael D. Menz

IPC分类号： A61F9/08 ,  A61N7/00

CPC分类号： A61N7/022 ,  A61B8/0808

摘要： Focused ultrasound is a promising technology for neural stimulation that is non-invasive, and capable of passing through the skull. Here we use the isolated retina to characterize the effect of ultrasound on an intact neural circuit and compared these effects to those of visual stimulation of the same retinal ganglion cells. Ultrasound stimuli evoked precise, stable responses that looked qualitatively similar to strong visual responses but with shorter latency. We found that ultrasonic stimulation activates cells presynaptic to ganglion cells, which may include photoreceptors and interneurons. Ultrasonic stimulation is an effective and spatial-temporally precise method to activate the retina. Ultrasonic stimulation may have diagnostic potential to probe remaining retinal function in cases of photoreceptor degeneration, and therapeutic potential for use in a retinal prosthesis. In addition, ultrasound promises to be a useful tool to understand the dynamic activity in the interneuron population of the retina.

摘要翻译： 聚焦超声波是一种有前途的神经刺激技术，非侵入性，能够通过颅骨。 在这里，我们使用孤立的视网膜来表征超声对完整神经回路的影响，并将这些效应与同一视网膜神经节细胞的视觉刺激相比较。 超声刺激诱发精确，稳定的反应，看起来质地与强视觉反应相似，但延迟较短。 我们发现超声波刺激激活细胞突触前神经节细胞，其可能包括光感受器和中间神经元。 超声波刺激是激活视网膜的有效和时空精确的方法。 在光感受器变性的情况下，超声波刺激可能具有探测剩余视网膜功能的诊断潜力，以及用于视网膜假体的治疗潜力。 此外，超声波有助于了解视网膜中间神经元群体的动态活动。