Iranian University Develops Non-Invasive Deep Brain Electrical Stimulation Device
Maryam Qorbani, the head of the technical-research team, stated that at present, the invasive method of electrode implantation is used for deep brain stimulation of patients which requires surgery and leads to very undesirable side effects.
“Designing and manufacturing an electrical stimulation device without direct application of a current can help to improve the present clinical methods,” she said.
“In this plan, by building a new stimulation system, including capacitive electrodes, we have succeeded in stimulating the deep points of a 4-layer phantom of the brain in an interference method. Also, the effectiveness of the above method in creating a concentrated electric field and its effect on neuronal activity have been analyzed analytically and simulated,” Qorbani said.
“The important issue of optimal transcranial stimulation was investigated in this project from various aspects with an experimental and computational approach, and a new method for deep transcranial electrical stimulation was proposed in a non-contact manner, and barium titanate capacitive electrodes have been used for stimulation,” she noted.
Qorbani stated that brain stimulation by external electric field has various clinical applications in diseases like Parkinson's, depression, and epilepsy, adding that it can be used to reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
In a relevant development in June, the Brain Innovation Center started work in Tehran with the support of Iran’s Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.
The Brain Innovation Center was inaugurated in a ceremony with the participation of Seyed Mohammad Mahdavi, the Secretary for the Development of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies Department of the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, and Abdolreza Pazouki, the President of Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran.
The center has different departments of brain stimulation, brain signal recording, virtual reality, neurocognitive, cognitive assessment and rehabilitation and biofeedback laboratories.
“With the establishment of the brain innovation center, educational, research and therapeutic activities with interdisciplinary approaches will be carried out in a coordinated and coherent environment,” said Mahdavi in the inauguration ceremony of the center.
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