Ultrasonic Neuromodulation

Researchers from the Arizona State University have found that they can use low-intensity and low-frequency ultrasound in order to alter the functioning of brain cells. The ultrasound was able to alter the concentration of various neurotransmitters in the synapse through the release of vesicles.

The researchers have recognized that scientists may be able to use this method to non-invasively stimulate the brain. This would be a remote approach to altering brain functioning.

A lot of current techniques that scientists now use require direct contact with brain tissue. Deep brain stimulation, for instance, utilizes a brain implant device that is placed in the brain by surgery. Brain surgery, however, carries many risks that make it less than ideal.

Now the team is currently testing a bunch of different acoustic frequencies and how they pass through the human skull. They are trying to stimulate the brain without damaging any tissue.

The Arizona State University researchers are now going to start a new company called SynSonix to create this new technology. The company will help develop ultrasonic neuromodulation.  In the future this type of technology find use for the treatment of brain injuries.

You can read more about it here.

Neural Plasticity Axon Growth

Scientists who are located at The University of British Columbia have recently found the reason that the brain loses the ability to repair itself and also to regrow new connections. This new discovery could potentially lead to new therapies that may be able to rejuvenate damaged brains. The study was recently published in the EMBO Journal. For this specific study, the researchers had identified a number of proteins that are able to control the sprouting of brain cell neurons. The two proteins are called calpain and cortactin.

When the brain is developing neurons are fairly plastic and have the ability to create many more connections. As a person gets older however, this ability becomes less. As the brain matures the inherent plasticity drops quite a bit and neurons are less likely to form or regrow.

This new discovery shows that neurons haven’t really lost their capacity to regrow new types of connections. The fact that they cannot do this is merely because they are under repression by the calpain protein.

So in the future new therapies may be able to suppress the functioning of these proteins for beneficial effect. This would allow neurons to sprout new connections that are damaged due to a brain injury or other brain disorder.