Awakening the Brain of Stroke-Induced Rats Using Ultrasound

Development of Wearable Wireless Ultrasonic Brain Stimulator
Preclinical Verification of Stroke Rehabilitation Efficacy
Foundation for Brain Stimulator Technology Development for People

Example of animal wearing using the developed wireless wearable brain stimulation system

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A technology has been developed that can improve motor function deterioration caused by stroke by stimulating damaged brain nerves with ultrasound. Since it can be used for stroke rehabilitation with a simple device, it is expected to contribute to reducing stroke damage if it passes clinical trials.

Dr. Hyungmin Kim's research team at the Bionics Research Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology announced on the 20th that they developed such technology, and the research results were recently published in the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, a journal in the field of biomedical engineering.

Lightweight, Wearable, and Wirelessly Controlled Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Brain Stimulator

Simulation image of low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation in the motor cortex area of a stroke rat model (red dots indicate the points where ultrasound is stimulated)

The research team developed a wearable wireless low-intensity focused ultrasound brain stimulator based on previous research results. It is a wearable device weighing 20g that can wirelessly control low-intensity focused ultrasound. The team applied this device to a stroke rat model and measured motor ability. Ultrasound with a pressure of about 426kPa was applied to the motor control area of the brain in the stroke rat model, and after 3 days of rehabilitation, it was compared with a stroke model without ultrasound stimulation. The results showed a significant improvement in motor ability, and after 7 days of rehabilitation, motor ability similar to that of normal rats was confirmed.

In 2018, the research team conducted a study applying low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation to the deep cerebellum to recover motor function impaired by hemiplegia. Recently, they also demonstrated that the stroke cerebellar deep low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation treatment technology is closely related to changes in delta waves among brain waves.

Proven Feasibility of Non-Invasive Brain Nerve Rehabilitation Treatment

This is the behavioral analysis result of brain stimulation performed on a stroke rat model using an animal wearable brain stimulation system. Tracking efficacy with an automated animal behavior tracking system showed that stroke rats receiving brain stimulation (tFUS) gradually recovered activity levels (red line) similar to healthy animals (Healthy) over time, compared to stroke rats that did not receive stimulation (Sham).

The research team expects that the results of this study can be utilized in the development of wearable ultrasound brain stimulation technology at the clinical level. Existing ultrasound brain stimulators are heavy and fixed, so they could only be used in experiments on anesthetized or fixed animals.

Dr. Hyungmin Kim said, "In a situation where wearable brain stimulation technology is rapidly advancing recently, this study is meaningful in proving that non-invasive brain nerve rehabilitation treatment using wearable ultrasound devices is possible." He added, "In the future, to ensure safety after stimulation and the effectiveness of disease treatment, we plan to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuromodulation through ultrasound stimulation and optimize the stimulation protocol accordingly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.