Transcranial Functional Ultrasound Imaging and Neuromodulation

In collaboration with the Pinton Lab (https://pintonlab.web.unc.edu/our-research/), contrast-enhanced US imaging sequences have been developed to transcranially image brains of small rodent preclinical models. No invasive craniotomy is required to generate super-resolvable vascular maps, which can be registered to existing rodent brain atlases to visualize functional responses to external stimuli. A local response to a hind-paw stimulation can be seen in the motor cortex (see figure). In addition, this atlas-registered vascular map can be used to then target specific areas of the brain for neuromodulation.