Author Correction: Noninvasive sub-organ ultrasound stimulation for targeted neuromodulation (Nature Communications, (2019), 10, 1, (952), 10.1038/s41467-019-08750-9)

© 2020, The Author(s). This article contained an error in the ordinate axis in Fig. 2d, where the units were reported as nmol/L. The unit should have been reported as pg/ml. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article

Peripheral Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (pFUS): New Competitor in Pharmaceutical Markets?

© 2019 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening. A new study published in Nature Communications outlines our group’s results using focused ultrasound stimulation within peripheral organs to precisely activate autonomic nerve circuits. The concept is demonstrated by modulating two different (and potentially therapeutic) targets in animal models, a neuroimmune connection in the spleen (that modulates blood cytokine concentrations) and a nutrient sensory pathway within the liver (that modulates metabolism). Connected to this work is a companion Nature Communications publication that utilizes an ultrasound stimulus focused on the spleen to reduce disease severity in a serum-transferred rodent model of inflammatory arthritis. These reports highlight the growing evidence that ultrasound energy (previously shown to enable activation or modulation of central nervous system pathways) may be used to perform peripheral neuromodulation. In this commentary, we highlight the main findings and discuss their implications for new forms of ultrasound-based therapy. Though challenges remain, a new noninvasive method for precision neuromodulation could solve many of the challenges facing the nascent field of bioelectronic medicine. That is, the use of ultrasound to directly modulate neurophysiological systems therapeutically may provide alternatives to traditional pharmaceuticals. However, to alter the current pharmaceutical paradigm, the field will need to develop a new understanding of how traditional drug concepts (such as dose and pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics) relate to the parameters, protocols, and outcomes of this new stimulation technology

Noninvasive sub-organ ultrasound stimulation for targeted neuromodulation

© 2019, The Author(s). Tools for noninvasively modulating neural signaling in peripheral organs will advance the study of nerves and their effect on homeostasis and disease. Herein, we demonstrate a noninvasive method to modulate specific signaling pathways within organs using ultrasound (U/S). U/S is first applied to spleen to modulate the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP), and US stimulation is shown to reduce cytokine response to endotoxin to the same levels as implant-based vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). Next, hepatic U/S stimulation is shown to modulate pathways that regulate blood glucose and is as effective as VNS in suppressing the hyperglycemic effect of endotoxin exposure. This response to hepatic U/S is only found when targeting specific sub-organ locations known to contain glucose sensory neurons, and both molecular (i.e. neurotransmitter concentration and cFOS expression) and neuroimaging results indicate US induced signaling to metabolism-related hypothalamic sub-nuclei. These data demonstrate that U/S stimulation within organs provides a new method for site-selective neuromodulation to regulate specific physiological functions

Media 1: Dual-mode laparoscopic fluorescence image-guided surgery using a single camera

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 August 2012 (boe-3-8-1880