Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this article the authors Yuhao Chen, Yue Li, Meng Du, Jinsui Yu, Fei Gao, Zhen Yuan and Zhiyi Chen from The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China, University of South China, Hunan, China and University of Macau, China discuss ultrasound neuromodulation: integrating medicine and engineering for neurological disease treatment.
Neurological diseases associated with dysfunctions of neural circuits, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), depression and epilepsy, have become increasingly prevalent. To tackle these issues, artificial stimulation or regulation of specific neural circuits and nuclei are employed to alleviate or cure certain neurological diseases.
Ultrasound neuromodulation is an emerging interdisciplinary approach, which integrates medicine and engineering methodologies in the treatment. With the development of medicine and engineering, ultrasound neuromodulation has gradually been applied in the treatment of central nervous system diseases. In this review, the authors summarize the mechanism of ultrasound neuromodulation and the advances of focused ultrasound (FUS) in neuromodulation in recent years, with a special emphasis on its application in central nervous system disease treatment.
FUS shows great potential for the treatment of epilepsy, tremor, AD, depression, and brain trauma. The authors also suggest future directions of ultrasound neuromodulation in clinical settings, with a focus on fusion with genetic engineering or nanotechnology