Low-Intensity Ultrasound Causes Direct Excitation of Auditory Cortical Neurons

Figure 4

High-frequency ultrasound activates cultured auditory cortical neurons. (a) The ultrasound neural stimulation chip. Left, the photograph of the ultrasound neural stimulation chip used in the experiment. Right, a schematic illustration of the chip. The ultrasound neural stimulation chip consists of miniaturized interdigital transducers (IDTs) and an agar plate. The responses of neurons to surface acoustic waves (SAWs) were recorded. (b) The representative traces show the action potentials of a cultured cortical neuron before (pre-US) and during (US) US stimulation. (c) The changes of frequencies of action potential before (pre-US, open circles) and during (US, red circles) US stimulation for nine neurons. The mean values are also shown. Data are presented as the . , , paired -test. (d) The frequency of action potentials increased with the repeated US stimulation. Data are presented as the , .

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