Computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulation
Abstract The neuromodulation effect of low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) is highly target-specific. Unintended off-target neuronal excitation can be elicited when the beam focusing accuracy and resolution are limited, whereas the resulted side effect has not been evaluated quantitatively. Ther...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40522-w |
| _version_ | 1797453149614637056 |
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| author | Boqiang Fan Wayne Goodman Raymond Y. Cho Sameer A. Sheth Richard R. Bouchard Behnaam Aazhang |
| author_facet | Boqiang Fan Wayne Goodman Raymond Y. Cho Sameer A. Sheth Richard R. Bouchard Behnaam Aazhang |
| author_sort | Boqiang Fan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The neuromodulation effect of low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) is highly target-specific. Unintended off-target neuronal excitation can be elicited when the beam focusing accuracy and resolution are limited, whereas the resulted side effect has not been evaluated quantitatively. There is also a lack of methods addressing the minimization of such side effects. Therefore, this work introduces a computational model of unintended neuronal excitation during LIFU neuromodulation, which evaluates the off-target activation area (OTAA) by integrating an ultrasound field model with the neuronal spiking model. In addition, a phased array beam focusing scheme called constrained optimal resolution beamforming (CORB) is proposed to minimize the off-target neuronal excitation area while ensuring effective stimulation in the target brain region. A lower bound of the OTAA is analytically approximated in a simplified homogeneous medium, which could guide the selection of transducer parameters such as aperture size and operating frequency. Simulations in a human head model using three transducer setups show that CORB markedly reduces the OTAA compared with two benchmark beam focusing methods. The high neuromodulation resolution demonstrates the capability of LIFU to effectively limit the side effects during neuromodulation, allowing future clinical applications such as treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:18:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8ea75f32d3214e6588de03cfdccdcee7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:18:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-8ea75f32d3214e6588de03cfdccdcee72023-11-26T12:55:32ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-08-0113111110.1038/s41598-023-40522-wComputational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulationBoqiang Fan0Wayne Goodman1Raymond Y. Cho2Sameer A. Sheth3Richard R. Bouchard4Behnaam Aazhang5Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Baylor College of MedicineDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityDepartment of Imaging Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice UniversityAbstract The neuromodulation effect of low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) is highly target-specific. Unintended off-target neuronal excitation can be elicited when the beam focusing accuracy and resolution are limited, whereas the resulted side effect has not been evaluated quantitatively. There is also a lack of methods addressing the minimization of such side effects. Therefore, this work introduces a computational model of unintended neuronal excitation during LIFU neuromodulation, which evaluates the off-target activation area (OTAA) by integrating an ultrasound field model with the neuronal spiking model. In addition, a phased array beam focusing scheme called constrained optimal resolution beamforming (CORB) is proposed to minimize the off-target neuronal excitation area while ensuring effective stimulation in the target brain region. A lower bound of the OTAA is analytically approximated in a simplified homogeneous medium, which could guide the selection of transducer parameters such as aperture size and operating frequency. Simulations in a human head model using three transducer setups show that CORB markedly reduces the OTAA compared with two benchmark beam focusing methods. The high neuromodulation resolution demonstrates the capability of LIFU to effectively limit the side effects during neuromodulation, allowing future clinical applications such as treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40522-w |
| spellingShingle | Boqiang Fan Wayne Goodman Raymond Y. Cho Sameer A. Sheth Richard R. Bouchard Behnaam Aazhang Computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulation Scientific Reports |
| title | Computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulation |
| title_full | Computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulation |
| title_fullStr | Computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulation |
| title_short | Computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a LIFU stimulation |
| title_sort | computational modeling and minimization of unintended neuronal excitation in a lifu stimulation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40522-w |
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