Ultrasound Deep Brain Stimulation Regulates Food Intake and Body Weight in Mice

IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2024:32:366-377. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2024.3351312. Epub 2024 Jan 19.

Abstract

Given the widespread occurrence of obesity, new strategies are urgently needed to prevent, halt and reverse this condition. We proposed a noninvasive neurostimulation tool, ultrasound deep brain stimulation (UDBS), which can specifically modulate the hypothalamus and effectively regulate food intake and body weight in mice. Fifteen-min UDBS of hypothalamus decreased 41.4% food intake within 2 hours. Prolonged 1-hour UDBS significantly decreased daily food intake lasting 4 days. UDBS also effectively restrained body weight gain in leptin-receptor knockout mice (Sham: 96.19%, UDBS: 58.61%). High-fat diet (HFD) mice treated with 4-week UDBS (15 min / 2 days) reduced 28.70% of the body weight compared to the Sham group. Meanwhile, UDBS significantly modulated glucose-lipid metabolism and decreased the body fat. The potential mechanism is that ultrasound actives pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons in the hypothalamus for reduction of food intake and body weight. These results provide a noninvasive tool for controlling food intake, enabling systematic treatment of obesity.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Body Weight
  • Deep Brain Stimulation*
  • Eating / physiology
  • Leptin* / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Obesity / therapy

Substances

  • Leptin