Key Laboratory of Biomaterials of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Institution of Biomedical Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, Guangdong, China.
Lasers Med Sci. 2018 Dec;33(9):1907-1912. doi: 10.1007/s10103-018-2554-1. Epub 2018 Jun 4.
Infrared neural stimulation (INS) is a new and developing approach for neural repair, with the advantages of being non-contact, spatially precise, and artifact-free. However, the disadvantage of infrared light is that it is difficult to stimulate deep tissue because of its weak penetrating power. Therefore, this paper introduces an improved method using near-infrared laser to stimulate bullfrog sciatic nerves because of its strong penetrating power. Meanwhile, gold nanorods (Au NRs) are injected into the nerve to increase the absorption of light. The mechanism is the instantaneous temperature rise caused by the absorption of infrared light by Au NRs. The compound muscle action potential (CMAP) associated with the irradiated sciatic nerve is recorded by a multi-channel physiological signal instrument. The peak to peak amplitude (V) of CMAP for sciatic nerves injected with Au NRs increases significantly compared to the CMAP for control nerves without Au NRs. These results demonstrate INS by labeling nerves with nanoparticle exhibiting latent capacity to increase the efficiency, spatial resolution, and the neural responsivity, and especially, can increase the penetration depth and reduce the requisite radiant exposure level.
红外神经刺激（INS）是一种新兴的神经修复方法，具有非接触、空间精确和无伪影等优点。然而，红外光的缺点是由于其穿透能力较弱，难以刺激深部组织。因此，本文介绍了一种使用近红外激光刺激牛蛙坐骨神经的改进方法，因为近红外光具有很强的穿透能力。同时，将金纳米棒（Au NRs）注入神经以增加光的吸收。其机制是 Au NRs 吸收红外光引起的瞬时温升。通过多通道生理信号仪记录与照射坐骨神经相关的复合肌肉动作电位（CMAP）。与未注入 Au NRs 的对照神经相比，注入 Au NRs 的坐骨神经的 CMAP 的峰峰值（V）显著增加。这些结果表明，通过用纳米颗粒标记神经，INS 具有提高效率、空间分辨率和神经响应性的潜力，特别是可以增加穿透深度并降低所需的辐射暴露水平。
