Chalasani works at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California.
By Raif Karerat
An Indian American researcher from Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California has developed a new way to selectively activate brain, heart, muscle and other cells using ultrasonic sound waves for the first time.
Dubbed “sonogenetics,” this approach uses low-pressure ultrasound that penetrates through the skin and tissue to allow targeted control of certain cells or tissues, according to Forbes.
“Light-based techniques are great for some uses. But this is a new, additional tool to manipulate neurons and other cells in the body,” Sreekanth Chalasani, assistant professor in Salk’s molecular neurobiology laboratory, said.
He told The Guardian that the procedure could one day replace deep-brain stimulation — known as “optogenetics” — an invasive procedure that delivers electrical pulses into people’s brains to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
“This would enable us to manipulate target cells or tissues that are deep within the body without extensive surgery,” Chalasani informed Forbes.
Currently, the procedure has only been tested on worms, specifically, the species called “Caenorhabditis elegans,” a well-studied critter with precisely 302 neurons. The neurons responded to the ultrasound waves thanks to a type of channel on their surface, called TRP-4, which opens when the cell membrane is stretched – such as by the incoming ultrasound wave.
“The real prize will be to see whether this could work in a mammalian brain,” said Chalasani to the BBC.
When speaking with The Guardian, Chalasani stated that the team believes by utilizing gene therapy and a therapeutic virus, “it may be possible to make target human neurons temporarily susceptible to the ultrasound signal in a clinical setting for certain neurological treatments.”
The technology was revealed within a study appearing Sept. 15 in the journal Nature Communications.