Wireless Optogenetic Modulation of Cortical Neurons Enabled by Radioluminescent Nanoparticles
Zhaowei Chen, Vassiliy Tsytsarev, Y. Zou Finfrock, Olga Antipova, Zhonghou Cai, Hiroyuki Arakawa, Fritz W. Lischka, Bryan M. Hooks, Rosemarie Wilton, Dongyi Wang, Yi Liu, Brandon Gaitan, Tao Yang, Yu Chen, Reha S. Erzurumlu, Huanghao Yang, Elena A. Rozhkova
Abstract
While offering high-precision control of neural circuits, optogenetics is hampered by the necessity to implant fiber-optic waveguides in order to deliver photons to genetically engineered light-gated neurons in the brain. Unlike laser light, X-rays freely pass biological barriers. Here we show that radioluminescent Gd2(WO4)3:Eu nanoparticles, which absorb external X-rays energy and then downconvert it into optical photons with wavelengths of ∼610 nm, can be used for the transcranial stimulation of cortical neurons expressing red-shifted, ∼590–630 nm, channelrhodopsin ReaChR, thereby promoting optogenetic neural control to the practical implementation of minimally invasive wireless deep brain stimulation.