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Ultrasound can help control the brain
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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An article by a team of scientists about their new work appeared in one of the well-known scientific publications – the specialists managed to control the actions of roundworms with a special gene by influencing them with ultrasound.
The head of the scientific group, Stuart Ibsen from California, explained that low-frequency ultrasound waves, spreading through the body, are almost not scattered, which distinguishes them from light. This feature can be useful, for example, when stimulating deep areas of the brain.
Ibsen's team was able to control the actions of the transgenic roundworms using ultrasound waves and air bubbles that were present in the worms' surrounding culture medium.
Scientists have modified the genome of roundworms so that their nerve cells become sensitive to commands sent via ultrasound. The specialists were able to achieve this by introducing the TRP-4 gene into the worms’ DNA. This special gene contains a certain “guide” for assembling molecules of an unusual protein located on the surface of neurons; it is this protein that is responsible for the perception of ultrasound by roundworms and allows them to control their actions. Such proteins serve as a kind of channel through which certain ions pass (in the case of worms, the ion channels open for calcium), which causes brain cells to become active.
When ultrasound hits protein molecules, a channel opens and the cell emits an electrical impulse. Thanks to this, scientists were able to control the work of not only individual cells, but also the entire brain of worms. In addition to ultrasound, air bubbles, which were coated with a special fat layer and paint, helped to influence the behavior of worms. Such bubbles helped to activate specific neurons. As a result of ultrasound exposure, scientists forced the worm to move in the opposite direction, turn at an acute angle, or not turn at all.
This method of controlling the brain's work is called sonogenetics and at present it can only be applied to worms. However, according to scientists, it is quite possible to adapt this method not only to other animals, but also to humans, although there are many difficulties on the way to this goal.
For the method to work, it is necessary to introduce the TRP-4 gene into certain cells of the body and air bubbles into the circulatory system. Experts suggest that such a unique system will help people with brain disorders, such as epilepsy.
Now scientists have to check whether the method will work in the case of mammals. At present, Ibsen's scientific group has already begun research on rodents and if the experiments are successful, sonogenetics can be adapted to work with humans. Specialists are confident that they will be able to find methods of "contactless" control of cells.
By the way, ultrasound has already been used by scientists to stimulate the brain, it was even used to treat some diseases, but Ibsen's group was the first to succeed in activating individual cells with ultrasound waves.