Low intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury
Abstract Low intensity, trans-spinal focused ultrasound (tsFUS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation approach that has been shown to modulate spinal circuit excitability in healthy rats. Here, we evaluated the potential of tsFUS for alleviating neuropathic pain by testing it in a chronic constriction in...
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BMC
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Bioelectronic Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s42234-025-00170-z |
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| author | Weiguo Song Alice Giannotti Alexandra Bekiaridou Ona Bloom Stavros Zanos |
| author_facet | Weiguo Song Alice Giannotti Alexandra Bekiaridou Ona Bloom Stavros Zanos |
| author_sort | Weiguo Song |
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| description | Abstract Low intensity, trans-spinal focused ultrasound (tsFUS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation approach that has been shown to modulate spinal circuit excitability in healthy rats. Here, we evaluated the potential of tsFUS for alleviating neuropathic pain by testing it in a chronic constriction injury (CCI) model. Male rats underwent CCI of the left sciatic nerve and then received tsFUS (2 kHz pulse repetition frequency; 40% duty cycle) or sham stimulation, targeted at spinal segment level L5 for 3 min daily over three days. As expected, CCI causes significant reduction of von Frey Threshold (vFT), a measure of mechanical sensitivity. We found that tsFUS treatment is associated with increased vFT compared to sham; this increase persists beyond the duration of treatment, through days 4 to 23 post-CCI. In spinal cords of tsFUS-treated animals, counts of spinal microglia (Iba1 + cells) and of activated, pro-inflammatory microglia (Iba1 + /CD86 + cells), are reduced compared to sham-treated animals. This reduction in microglia counts is limited to the insonified side of the spinal cord, ipsilateral to CCI. These findings suggest that tsFUS may be a promising approach for treatment of neuropathic pain at early stages, possibly by attenuating the development of microglial-driven inflammation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5bf68470c19343ef921a790fcad94b98 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2332-8886 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
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| series | Bioelectronic Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-5bf68470c19343ef921a790fcad94b982025-08-20T01:54:22ZengBMCBioelectronic Medicine2332-88862025-03-0111111010.1186/s42234-025-00170-zLow intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injuryWeiguo Song0Alice Giannotti1Alexandra Bekiaridou2Ona Bloom3Stavros Zanos4Feinstein Institutes for Medical ResearchThe Biorobotics Institute and Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant’AnnaElmezzi Graduate School of Molecular MedicineFeinstein Institutes for Medical ResearchFeinstein Institutes for Medical ResearchAbstract Low intensity, trans-spinal focused ultrasound (tsFUS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation approach that has been shown to modulate spinal circuit excitability in healthy rats. Here, we evaluated the potential of tsFUS for alleviating neuropathic pain by testing it in a chronic constriction injury (CCI) model. Male rats underwent CCI of the left sciatic nerve and then received tsFUS (2 kHz pulse repetition frequency; 40% duty cycle) or sham stimulation, targeted at spinal segment level L5 for 3 min daily over three days. As expected, CCI causes significant reduction of von Frey Threshold (vFT), a measure of mechanical sensitivity. We found that tsFUS treatment is associated with increased vFT compared to sham; this increase persists beyond the duration of treatment, through days 4 to 23 post-CCI. In spinal cords of tsFUS-treated animals, counts of spinal microglia (Iba1 + cells) and of activated, pro-inflammatory microglia (Iba1 + /CD86 + cells), are reduced compared to sham-treated animals. This reduction in microglia counts is limited to the insonified side of the spinal cord, ipsilateral to CCI. These findings suggest that tsFUS may be a promising approach for treatment of neuropathic pain at early stages, possibly by attenuating the development of microglial-driven inflammation.https://doi.org/10.1186/s42234-025-00170-zTrans-spinal focused ultrasound stimulationNoninvasive neuromodulationVon Frey thresholdPainFlow cytometryMicroglia |
| spellingShingle | Weiguo Song Alice Giannotti Alexandra Bekiaridou Ona Bloom Stavros Zanos Low intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury Bioelectronic Medicine Trans-spinal focused ultrasound stimulation Noninvasive neuromodulation Von Frey threshold Pain Flow cytometry Microglia |
| title | Low intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury |
| title_full | Low intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury |
| title_fullStr | Low intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury |
| title_full_unstemmed | Low intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury |
| title_short | Low intensity trans-spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury |
| title_sort | low intensity trans spinal focused ultrasound reduces mechanical sensitivity and suppresses spinal microglia activation in rats with chronic constriction injury |
| topic | Trans-spinal focused ultrasound stimulation Noninvasive neuromodulation Von Frey threshold Pain Flow cytometry Microglia |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s42234-025-00170-z |
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