Systematic examination of low-intensity ultrasound parameters on human motor cortex excitability and behavior

Low-intensity transcranial ultrasound (TUS) can non-invasively modulate human neural activity. We investigated how different fundamental sonication parameters influence the effects of TUS on the motor cortex (M1) of 16 healthy subjects by probing cortico-cortical excitability and behavior. A low-int...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anton Fomenko, Kai-Hsiang Stanley Chen, Jean-François Nankoo, James Saravanamuttu, Yanqiu Wang, Mazen El-Baba, Xue Xia, Shakthi Sanjana Seerala, Kullervo Hynynen, Andres M Lozano, Robert Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 2020-11-01
Series:eLife
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Online Access:https://elifesciences.org/articles/54497
Description
Summary:Low-intensity transcranial ultrasound (TUS) can non-invasively modulate human neural activity. We investigated how different fundamental sonication parameters influence the effects of TUS on the motor cortex (M1) of 16 healthy subjects by probing cortico-cortical excitability and behavior. A low-intensity 500 kHz TUS transducer was coupled to a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coil. TMS was delivered 10 ms before the end of TUS to the left M1 hotspot of the first dorsal interosseous muscle. Varying acoustic parameters (pulse repetition frequency, duty cycle, and sonication duration) on motor-evoked potential amplitude were examined. Paired-pulse measures of cortical inhibition and facilitation, and performance on a visuomotor task was also assessed. TUS safely suppressed TMS-elicited motor cortical activity, with longer sonication durations and shorter duty cycles when delivered in a blocked paradigm. TUS increased GABAA-mediated short-interval intracortical inhibition and decreased reaction time on visuomotor task but not when controlled with TUS at near-somatosensory threshold intensity.
ISSN:2050-084X