Optogenetic system and method
AssigneeUniversity of Newcastle Upon Tyne
InventorsAndrew Jackson, Mark Cunningham, Stuart Baker, Patrick Degenaar
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Abstract
An optogenetic system and method for preventing or halting seizures. The system and method use a sensor for monitoring the activity of a neural network containing a group of target neurons, and generating an input signal indicative of said activity, the target neurons being excitatory neurons. Excitatory stimulation is delivered in the form of an optical signal by an optical stimulator to the target neurons, the optical signal being determined based on the input signal, to reduce the overall activity of the target neurons.
Claims28
An optogenetic system for preventing or halting seizures by stabilizing brain regions, the system including:
- a sensor for monitoring an activity of a neural network containing a group of target neurons, and generating an input signal indicative of said activity, the group of target neurons being exclusively excitatory neurons which express optogenetic actuators that cause the cells on which they are expressed to execute excitatory behavior in response to an optical stimulus;
- an optical stimulator for delivering an excitatory stimulus in the form of an optical signal to the group of target neurons, the optical signal determined based on the input signal, to reduce the overall activity of the group of target neurons;
- and
- a processor configured to generate an output signal based on the input signal, wherein the output signal is used to generate the optical signal which forms the excitatory stimulus, wherein:
- the input signal is oscillatory in nature, and the output signal has the same frequency as the input signal, and wherein the output signal is phase shifted relative to the input signal to provide a phase-shifted optical signal, and the processor is configured to determine or calculate the phase shift,
- wherein the phase shift is predetermined and fixed, and wherein the processor is configured to calculate the phase shift of the output signal based on the input signal, wherein the processor is configured to identify a range of phases during the oscillation of the input signal at which the delivery of the excitatory stimulus causes a brain region to approach a stable state, and to calculate the phase shift of the output signal based on this identification.
A method of halting or preventing seizures by stabilizing brain regions, the method involving the steps of:
- monitoring an activity of a neural network containing a group of target neurons, the group of target neurons being exclusively excitatory neurons which express optogenetic actuators that cause the cells on which they are expressed to execute excitatory behavior in response to an optical stimulus;
- generating an oscillatory input signal indicative of the activity;
- generating an output signal using a processor based on the input signal, wherein the output signal has the same frequency as the input signal, wherein the output signal is phase shifted relative to the input signal to provide a phase-shifted optical signal, and wherein the processor is configured to determine or calculate the phase shift;
- determining, based on the input-signal, an optical signal for stimulating the group of target neurons, such that when delivered to the group of target neurons, the overall activity of the group of target neurons is reduced;
- and
- delivering an excitatory stimulus to the group of target neurons in the form of the optical signal,
- wherein the phase shift is predetermined and fixed, and wherein the processor is configured to calculate the phase shift of the output signal based on the input signal, wherein the processor is configured to identify a range of phases during the oscillation of the input signal at which the delivery of the excitatory stimulus causes a brain region to approach a stable state, and to calculate the phase shift of the output signal based on this identification.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.