Brain stimulation using electrical, magnetic, and ultrasound offer different spatiotemporal specificities for treating neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Towards developing a precision method of targeting specific functional circuits in humans, we have applied infrared neural stimulation to human cerebral cortex intra-operatively. Brief pulse trains of infrared laser light, applied with a fine fiber optic, excites neural activity at submillimeter scale as assessed by intrinsic signal optical imaging. The response is intensity-dependent, non-damaging below threshhold, and activates local cortical networks similar to that in nonhuman primates (NHP). We suggest INS is a promising tool for precision medicine.
|