A major breakthrough in acoustic genetics: the first use of sound to activate mammalian cells

The birth and development of optogenetics has revolutionized neuroscience, and now scientists at the Salk Institute for Biology are trying to develop another revolutionary research tool: "acoustogenetics" that uses sound to manipulate cells.

In a paper published in Nature Communications, the research team successfully used ultrasound pulses to activate human cells in vitro and gene-edited neurons in living mice

About 10 years ago, Professor Chalasani pioneered the idea of ​​using ultrasound to stimulate specific cells, and the concept of acoustic genetics took shape

But when the team tried to add TRP-4 to mammalian cells, they found that the protein was disabled, unable to respond to ultrasonic signals

In the latest study, the research team sequentially added nearly 300 candidate proteins to a human HEK cell line and then monitored the changes in the cells in a petri dish under ultrasonic stimulation

After more than a year of screening, the research team finally found a protein that meets the requirements from nearly 300 candidates: the ion channel protein TRPA1

▲ TRPA1 stood out from the candidate proteins under the stimulation of ultrasonic pulses at 7 MHz (Image source: Reference [1])

Then, the research team needed to verify whether the effect could be seen in other types of cells

▲ Neurons (white) expressing TRPA1 can be activated by ultrasound stimulation (Image credit: Salk Institute for Biology)

The research team pointed out that this technology will show broad application prospects in the medical field

In addition, the technology is expected to be used to create pacemakers that do not require implantation

There is still a lot of work to be done before this technology can actually be used

References:

[1] Duque, M.

[2] In a first for “sonogenetics,” researchers control mammalian cells with sound.