Researchers at Stanford have found a way to create precise points of light anywhere inside the body without surgery. This new method uses ultrasound to trigger light from within the bloodstream. It could replace invasive procedures like surgical implants or fiber optic insertions.
How Ultrasound Creates Light
Light is a powerful tool for healing and brain research. However, it doesn't travel well through skin, fat, or bone. This makes it hard to use light for deep tissue treatments. Doctors usually have to cut into the body to insert optical fibers.
The new Stanford technique sends tiny particles through the blood. These particles turn sound waves into small sparks of blue light. The light glows at 490 nanometers.
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Start Your News DetoxGuosong Hong, a professor at Stanford, explained that these materials can produce light in the brain, gut, spinal cord, or muscle. This happens without needing a physical implant.
Researchers made large ceramic particles into tiny nanoparticles. These are small enough to be injected into the bloodstream. They act like microscopic lightbulbs waiting for a signal.
These special materials are "mechanoluminescent." This means they only light up when squeezed by ultrasound waves. Ultrasound travels easily through the body, which is why it's used to see babies in the womb.
Hong noted that ultrasound is convenient and penetrates much deeper into the body than light.
Controlling Behavior with Light
To show the system worked, researchers tested it on the brain. They put an ultrasound-emitting "hat" on mice to trigger light in specific brain areas.
Targeting one brain region with light made a mouse turn left. Focusing on another region made it turn right. No holes were drilled in the skull, and no wires were attached to the brain. This was wireless, non-invasive mind control using sound and light.
Hong said they can non-invasively adjust this light in different brain regions to create various behaviors. This successful test shows that sound-triggered light can control cell behavior deep inside the body.
This technique could be used for many medical treatments that rely on light. This includes precise cancer therapies or localized gene editing. Ultraviolet light could also kill germs or be used for very precise gene editing.
Currently, the nanoparticles are made of ceramic materials that don't break down easily. The team is now working on replacing these ceramics with biodegradable materials. The liver could then safely process these materials after treatment.
