Simulation Studies of Neuronal Modulation Using Magneto-electric Nanoparticles for Astrocyte Stimulation

Abstract

A computational study of the effects of using magneto-electric nanoparticles (MNPs) to modulate brain neurons by stimulating astrocytes is discussed in this paper. The MNP brain-stimulation approach in the blood-brain barrier enables large-scale micrometer-level neuromodulation that leads to a specific stimulation pathway and avoids lateral effect. We describe here a simulation of nanoparticle stimulation used to modulate the neurons of a hypothetical patient with Parkinson’s disease. The major characterized symptoms of the PD patients under this simulation are tremor. Our simulation studies indicate the pulsed sequences of the electric field in an affected neuron could be raised to levels comparable to those of healthy people, leading to the possibility of this novel brain modulation for treating this symptom of Parkinson’s disease.