Elucidating Mechanotransduction in Magnetomechanical Neuromodulation

Neuromodulation techniques have shown great potential for the treatment of neurological disorders. Specifically, the use of novel magnetic nanotechnologies have allowed for non-invasive and targeted approaches that can stimulate deep structures. Magnetic nanodiscs (MNDs) are suitable for evoking neural activity because they are transducers of low-frequency and low-amplitude alternating magnetic fields (AMFs). When targeted to the cell membrane MNDs AMFs-triggered mechanoactuation enhances or inhibits cell membrane receptors for the modulation of biological signaling. However, there remains largely unknown information about the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of magnetomechanical neuromodulaiton. It is known that cortical neurons express different mechanosensitive ion channels such as TRPV1, TRPV2, TRPV4, Piezo1, TRPC1 and indirectly actuated G-protein coupled receptors. This project aims to investigate magnetomechanical neuromodulation using 685 nm MNDs targeted to the cell membrane of primary rat cortical neurons and unveil the key ion channels involved during mechanotransduction.