Ultrasound has emerged as a non-invasive neural modulation technique. Its mechanisms of action in the brain involve mechanical, cavitation, and thermal effects, which modulate neural activity by activating mechanosensitive ion channels, enhancing cell permeability, and improving blood circulation. The ultrasound-piezo-electric systems, based on the coupling between ultrasound and piezoelectric materials, can generate wireless electrical stimulation to promote neural repair, significantly improving therapeutic outcomes for neurodegenerative diseases and showing potential as a replacement for traditional invasive deep brain stimulation techniques. The ultrasound-responsive piezoelectric drug delivery system combines mechano-electrical conversion capability of piezoelectric materials with the non-invasive penetration advantage of ultrasound. This system achieves synergistic therapeutic effects for neurodegenerative diseases through on-demand drug release and wireless electrical stimulation in deep brain regions. It can effectively overcome the blood-brain barrier limitation, enabling precisely targeted drug delivery to specific brain regions. Simultaneously, it generates electrical stimulation in deep brain areas to exert synergistic neuroreparative effects. Together, these capabilities provide a more precise, efficient, and safe solution for treating neurodegenerative diseases. This review summarizes the neural regulatory mechanisms, technical advantages, and research progress of the ultrasound-responsive piezoelectric drug delivery systems for neurodegenerative disease therapy, aiming to offer novel insights for the field.
Humans ; Neurodegenerative Diseases/drug therapy* ; Drug Delivery Systems/methods* ; Blood-Brain Barrier ; Ultrasonic Waves ; Brain ; Ultrasonic Therapy ; Deep Brain Stimulation/methods*

Closed-loop neuromodulation, especially using the phase of the electroencephalography (EEG) rhythm to assess the real-time brain state and optimize the brain stimulation process, is becoming a hot research topic. Because the EEG signal is non-stationary, the commonly used EEG phase-based prediction methods have large variances, which may reduce the accuracy of the phase prediction. In this study, we proposed a machine learning-based EEG phase prediction network, which we call EEG phase prediction network (EPN), to capture the overall rhythm distribution pattern of subjects and map the instantaneous phase directly from the narrow-band EEG data. We verified the performance of EPN on pre-recorded data, simulated EEG data, and a real-time experiment. Compared with widely used state-of-the-art models (optimized multi-layer filter architecture, auto-regress, and educated temporal prediction), EPN achieved the lowest variance and the greatest accuracy. Thus, the EPN model will provide broader applications for EEG phase-based closed-loop neuromodulation.
Humans ; Electroencephalography/methods* ; Brain/physiology* ; Machine Learning ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Male ; Adult ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Brain Waves/physiology*

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has become a new method of post-stroke rehabilitation treatment and is gradually accepted by people. However, the neurophysiological mechanism of tDCS in the treatment of stroke still needs further study. In this study, we recruited 30 stroke patients with damage to the left side of the brain and randomly divided them into a real tDCS group (15 cases) and a sham tDCS group (15 cases). The resting EEG signals of the two groups of subjects before and after stimulation were collected, then the difference of power spectral density was analyzed and compared in the band of delta, theta, alpha and beta, and the delta/alpha power ratio (DAR) was calculated. The results showed that after real tDCS, delta band energy decreased significantly in the left temporal lobes, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05); alpha band energy enhanced significantly in the occipital lobes, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05); the difference of theta and beta band energy was not statistically significant in the whole brain region ( P > 0.05). Furthermore, the difference of delta, theta, alpha and beta band energy was not statistically significant after sham tDCS ( P > 0.05). On the other hand, the DAR value of stroke patients decreased significantly after real tDCS, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in sham tDCS ( P > 0.05). This study reveals to a certain extent the neurophysiological mechanism of tDCS in the treatment of stroke.
Brain/physiopathology* ; Brain Waves/physiology* ; Electroencephalography/methods* ; Humans ; Stroke/therapy* ; Stroke Rehabilitation/methods* ; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation/methods*

OBJECTIVES: Insomnia is one of the most prevalent sleep disorders. Recent studies suggest that cognitive and physical arousal play an important role in the generation of primary insomnia. Studies have also shown that information processing disorders due to cortical hyperactivity might interfere with normal sleep onset and sleep continuity. Therefore, focusing on central nervous system arousal and normalizing the information process have become current topics of interest. It has been well known that neurofeedback can reduce the brain hyperarousal by modulating patients' brain waves during a sequence of behavior therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of neurofeedback therapy on electroencephalography (EEG) characteristics in patients with primary insomnia. METHODS: Thirteen subjects who met the criteria for an insomnia diagnosis and 14 control subjects who were matched on sex and age were included. Neurofeedback and sham treatments were performed in a random order for 30 minutes, respectively. EEG spectral power analyses were performed to quantify effects of the neurofeedback therapy on brain wave forms. RESULTS: In patients with primary insomnia, relative spectral theta and sigma power during a therapeutic neurofeedback session were significantly lower than during a sham session (13.9 ± 2.6 vs. 12.2 ± 3.8 and 3.6 ± 0.9 vs. 3.2 ± 1.0 in %, respectively; p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant changes in other EEG spectral bands. CONCLUSION: For the first time in Korea, EEG spectral power in the theta band was found to increase when a neurofeedback session was applied to patients with insomnia. This outcome might provide some insight into new interventions for improving sleep onset. However, the treatment response of insomniacs was not precisely evaluated due to limitations of the current pilot study, which requires follow-up studies with larger samples in the future.
Arousal ; Automatic Data Processing ; Behavior Therapy ; Brain ; Brain Waves ; Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis ; Electroencephalography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Neurofeedback ; Pilot Projects ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Sleep Wake Disorders

Stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) is widely used to record the electrical activity of patients' brain in clinical. The SEEG-based epileptogenic network can better describe the origin and the spreading of seizures, which makes it an important measure to localize epileptogenic zone (EZ). SEEG data from six patients with refractory epilepsy are used in this study. Five of them are with temporal lobe epilepsy, and the other is with extratemporal lobe epilepsy. The node outflow (out-degree) and inflow (in-degree) of information are calculated in each node of epileptic network, and the overlay between selected nodes and resected nodes is analyzed. In this study, SEEG data is transformed to bipolar montage, and then the epileptic network is established by using independent effective coherence (iCoh) method. The SEEG segments at onset, middle and termination of seizures in Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma rhythms are used respectively. Finally, the K-means clustering algorithm is applied on the node values of out-degree and in-degree respectively. The nodes in the cluster with high value are compared with the resected regions. The final results show that the accuracy of selected nodes in resected region in the Delta, Alpha and Beta rhythm are 0.90, 0.88 and 0.89 based on out-degree values in temporal lobe epilepsy patients respectively, while the in-degree values cannot differentiate them. In contrast, the out-degree values are higher outside the temporal lobe in the patient with extratemporal lobe epilepsy. Based on the out-degree feature in low-frequency epileptic network, this study provides a potential quantitative measure for identifying patients with temporal lobe epilepsy in clinical.
Brain Waves ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; diagnosis ; Humans

The thalamostriatal pathway is implicated in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, PD-related changes in the relationship between oscillatory activity in the centromedian-parafascicular complex (CM/Pf, or the Pf in rodents) and the dorsal striatum (DS) remain unclear. Therefore, we simultaneously recorded local field potentials (LFPs) in both the Pf and DS of hemiparkinsonian and control rats during epochs of rest or treadmill walking. The dopamine-lesioned rats showed increased LFP power in the beta band (12 Hz-35 Hz) in the Pf and DS during both epochs, but decreased LFP power in the delta (0.5 Hz-3 Hz) band in the Pf during rest epochs and in the DS during both epochs, compared to control rats. In addition, exaggerated low gamma (35 Hz-70 Hz) oscillations after dopamine loss were restricted to the Pf regardless of the behavioral state. Furthermore, enhanced synchronization of LFP oscillations was found between the Pf and DS after the dopamine lesion. Significant increases occurred in the mean coherence in both theta (3 Hz-7 Hz) and beta bands, and a significant increase was also noted in the phase coherence in the beta band between the Pf and DS during rest epochs. During the treadmill walking epochs, significant increases were found in both the alpha (7 Hz-12 Hz) and beta bands for two coherence measures. Collectively, dramatic changes in the relative LFP power and coherence in the thalamostriatal pathway may underlie the dysfunction of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical network circuits in PD, contributing to some of the motor and non-motor symptoms of the disease.
Animals ; Brain Waves ; physiology ; Corpus Striatum ; physiopathology ; Cortical Synchronization ; physiology ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; physiology ; Electrocorticography ; Male ; Neural Pathways ; physiopathology ; Oxidopamine ; Parkinsonian Disorders ; physiopathology ; Rats, Wistar ; Thalamic Nuclei ; physiopathology ; Walking ; physiology

In 1924, Hans Berger, a German psychiatrist, recorded the brain waves from a human brain for the first time. Many advances have been made in this field since then. Currently, brain waves are generated by a variety of computer technologies, including brain computer interface technology, and robot or artificial intelligence technology has also made amazing progress. A mental health practitioner who deals with brain-related medicine has an obligation and responsibility to research and find clinical applications of brain waves because they contain a great deal of information hidden in the brain. Therefore, understanding the basics of electroencephalography will contribute to a determination and resolution of various clinical situations. This review discusses basic knowledge before dealing with brain waves. In addition to a visual inspection of general brain waves, quantitative analysis of brain waves is expected to become an important area of interest for mental health practitioners.
Artificial Intelligence ; Brain ; Brain Mapping ; Brain Waves ; Brain-Computer Interfaces ; Electroencephalography ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Psychiatry

PURPOSE: The study investigated whether neurofeedback training (NFT) can normalize the excessive high beta and low alpha waves indicative of hyperarousal and subsequently improve autonomous regulation based on the self-determination theory in alcohol use disorders. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group preteste-posttest design was used. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from 36 Korean inpatients who met the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test in Korea criteria. Data were collected from quantitative electroencephalography to assess alpha (8–12 Hz) and high beta (21–30 Hz) waves for hyperarousal. The questionnaires included Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction scales that assessed autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and the Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale and Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire. The experimental group underwent 10 sessions of NFT over 4 weeks. Data were analyzed using the Chi-squared, Manne-Whitney U, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. RESULTS: In the experimental group, the alpha wave was increased in 15 of 19 sites and high beta waves were decreased in 15 of 19 sites, but this difference was not significant. However, high beta waves were increased in 15 of 19 sites in the control group, with seven sites (Fz, Cz, Pz, Fp2, F4, C4, and P4) showing significant increases. The experimental group showed a significant increase in basic psychological need satisfaction, alcohol abstinence self-efficacy, and self-regulation compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: NFT is recommended for improving autonomous regulation in alcohol use disorder as a nursing intervention. However, for significantly attenuating hyperarousal through brain wave correction, it may be necessary to increase the number of neurofeedback sessions.
Alcohol Abstinence ; Alcoholism ; Brain Waves ; Electroencephalography* ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Mental Competency ; Neurofeedback* ; Nursing ; Self-Control ; Social Control, Formal* ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of prenatal mobile phone exposure on the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and doublecortin (DCX) in dentate gyrus of offspring rats. METHODS: The rat model of prenatal mobile phone exposure was established and there were three groups including control group, short term maternal exposure group and long term maternal exposure group(=6). From pregnant day 1 to day 17, pregnant rats in long term and short term maternal exposure group were exposed to an mobile phone in talking mode for 6 h/d and 24 h/d, respectively. Length of pregnancy, maternal body weight gain, litter size and pup's body weight were observed. The cell morphology in dentate gyrus of offspring rats at the age of 1 month was studied by cresyl violet staining. The immunohistochemical expression of PCNA and DCX in dentate gyrus of rat offspring were detected, and the expression of DCX and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in hippocampus of rat offspring were evaluated by Western blot. RESULTS: There was no difference in length of pregnancy, maternal body weight gain, litter size and pup's body weight among three groups. The morphological changes of pyramidal cells in the polymorphic layer and DCX-positive cells in the dentate gyrus were obvious in rat offspring of long term maternal exposure group. There were less PCNA-positive cells in dentate gyrus and decreased expression of DCX and BDNF in hippocampus by Western blot in long term maternal exposure group compared with control and short term maternal exposure group (all <0.05). CONCLUSIONS Long term prenatal mobile phone exposure might inhibit the expression of PCNA and DCX in dentate gyrus of rat offspring by down-regulating BDNF.
Animals ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; metabolism ; Cell Phone ; Dentate Gyrus ; metabolism ; Female ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; metabolism ; Neuropeptides ; metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; metabolism ; Radio Waves ; Rats

The visual system plays an important role in our daily life. In this study, we found that loss of dendritic cell factor 1 (DCF1) in the primary visual cortex (V1) caused a sight deficit in mice and induced an abnormal increase in glutamic acid decarboxylase 67, an enzyme that catalyzes the decarboxylation of glutamate to gamma aminobutyric acid and CO, particularly in layer 5. In vivo electrophysiological recordings confirmed a decrease in delta, theta, and beta oscillation power in DCF1-knockout mice. This study presents a previously unknown function of DCF1 in V1, suggests an unknown contact between DCF1 and GABA systems, and provides insight into the mechanism and treatment of visual deficits.
Animals ; Brain Waves ; genetics ; Disease Models, Animal ; Electroencephalography ; Gene Expression Regulation ; drug effects ; genetics ; Geniculate Bodies ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Ginkgolides ; therapeutic use ; Glutamate Decarboxylase ; metabolism ; Lactones ; therapeutic use ; Membrane Proteins ; deficiency ; genetics ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice, Knockout ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; deficiency ; genetics ; Photic Stimulation ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos ; metabolism ; Vision Disorders ; drug therapy ; genetics ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Visual Cortex ; metabolism ; pathology ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; metabolism