TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavioral and functional assessment of ultrasound neuromodulation on Caenorhabditis elegans
AU - Xian, Quanxiang
AU - Qiu, Zhihai
AU - Kala, Shashwati
AU - Wong, Kin Fung
AU - Guo, Jinghui
AU - Sun, Lei
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the facility and technical support from University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN) of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Funding Information:
Manuscript received October 22, 2020; accepted February 3, 2021. Date of publication February 8, 2021; date of current version May 25, 2021. This work was supported in part by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund under Grant 15104520, Grant 15102417, and Grant 15326416; in part by the Hong Kong Innovation Technology Fund Mid-Stream Research Program under Grant MRP/018/18X; in part by the Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province under Grant 2018B030331001; and in part by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under Grant 1-ZE1K and Grant 1-BBAU. (Quanxiang Xian and Zhihai Qiu contributed equally to this work.) (Corresponding author: Lei Sun.) Quanxiang Xian, Zhihai Qiu, Shashwati Kala, Kin Fung Wong, and Lei Sun are with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (e-mail: lei.sun. . edu.hk).
Publisher Copyright:
© 1986-2012 IEEE.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Ultrasound brain stimulation is a promising modality for probing brain function and treating brain diseases. However, its mechanism is as yet unclear, and in vivo effects are not well-understood. Here, we present a top-down strategy for assessing ultrasound bioeffects in vivo, using Caenorhabditis elegans. Behavioral and functional changes of single worms and of large populations upon ultrasound stimulation were studied. Worms were observed to significantly increase their average speed upon ultrasound stimulation, adapting to it upon continued treatment. Worms also generated more reversal turns when ultrasound was ON, and within a minute post-stimulation, they performed significantly more reversal and omega turns than prior to ultrasound. In addition, in vivo calcium imaging showed that the neural activity in the worms' heads and tails was increased significantly by ultrasound stimulation. In all, we conclude that ultrasound can directly activate the neurons of worms in vivo, in both of their major neuronal ganglia, and modify their behavior.
AB - Ultrasound brain stimulation is a promising modality for probing brain function and treating brain diseases. However, its mechanism is as yet unclear, and in vivo effects are not well-understood. Here, we present a top-down strategy for assessing ultrasound bioeffects in vivo, using Caenorhabditis elegans. Behavioral and functional changes of single worms and of large populations upon ultrasound stimulation were studied. Worms were observed to significantly increase their average speed upon ultrasound stimulation, adapting to it upon continued treatment. Worms also generated more reversal turns when ultrasound was ON, and within a minute post-stimulation, they performed significantly more reversal and omega turns than prior to ultrasound. In addition, in vivo calcium imaging showed that the neural activity in the worms' heads and tails was increased significantly by ultrasound stimulation. In all, we conclude that ultrasound can directly activate the neurons of worms in vivo, in both of their major neuronal ganglia, and modify their behavior.
KW - Caenorhabditis elegans
KW - calcium imaging
KW - ultrasound neural stimulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101469400&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TUFFC.2021.3057873
DO - 10.1109/TUFFC.2021.3057873
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85101469400
SN - 0885-3010
VL - 68
SP - 2150
EP - 2154
JO - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
JF - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
IS - 6
M1 - 9350291
ER -