posted on 2023-11-13, 12:34authored byDeqi Yang, Qinjuan Ren, Jianfang Nie, Ya Zhang, Haofan Wu, Zhiqiang Chang, Bingfang Wang, Jing Dai, Yin Fang
Epilepsy
is a prevalent and severe neurological disorder and generally
requires prolonged electrode implantation and tether brain stimulation
in refractory cases. However, implants may cause potential chronic
immune inflammation and permanent tissue damage due to material property
mismatches with soft brain tissue. Here, we demonstrated a nanomaterial-enabled
near-infrared (NIR) neuromodulation approach to provide nongenetic
and nonimplantable therapeutic benefits in epilepsy mouse models.
Our study showed that crystal-exfoliated photothermal black phosphorus
(BP) flakes could enhance neural activity by altering the membrane
capacitive currents in hippocampus neurons through NIR photothermal
neuromodulation. Optical stimulation facilitated by BP flakes in hippocampal
slices evoked action potentials with a high spatiotemporal resolution.
Furthermore, BP flake-enabled NIR neuromodulation of hippocampus neural
circuits can suppress epileptic signals in epilepsy model mice with
minimal invasiveness and high biocompatibility. Consequently, nanomaterial-enabled
NIR neuromodulation may open up opportunities for nonimplantable optical
therapy of epilepsy in nontransgenic organisms.