Scientists in the United States have developed a powerful new method to help calm the abnormal brain activity associated with diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's. The technique involves the use of laser light stimulation of special proteins implanted in key areas of the brain.
So-called neural "super silencers," were developed by scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from two genes found in fungi and bacteria. The genes, called Arch (ARK) and Mac, are responsible for making light-sensitive proteins that help the organisms convert light into energy.
But when those genes are inserted into the brain, neurons can be engineered to express the proteins, making it possible to manipulate them with a laser beam and calm irritated nerve cells that are responsible for epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and chronic pain syndromes.
Mouse neuron expressing Arch gene Photo - Image courtesy of Brian Chow, Xue Han and Ed Boyden/MIT
Ed Boyden is a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT. He is the lead author of a study that showed how neurons containing the genes could be turned on and off with pulses of laser-beam light. "If you could turn off those neurons that are behaving inappropriately just for the right amount of time, that allows you to cancel out the aberrant neural dynamics with fewer side effects than if you were to bathe the entire brain in a pharmacological agent," he said.
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