经颅电刺激在啮齿动物中的研究进展*
2021-10-20宋美慧王玉梅褚光辉
宋美慧, 王玉梅, 周 正, 褚光辉, 付 玉
(昆明理工大学医学院,云南昆明 650000)
经颅电刺激(transcranial electrical stimulation,tES)是一种通过在头皮上施加微弱电流来改变大脑功能的神经调节工具。该方法在上世纪80 年代被提出,随着社会老龄化和神经系统疾病发病率的日益增长,该方法由于其无创、副作用小、成本低、易操作等优势,近年来逐渐受到重视[1]。目前tES 已应用于改善认知功能和运动功能障碍,以及治疗包括阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer disease,AD)和帕金森病(Parkinson disease,PD)在内的神经退行性疾病。
tES 的装置因简单,主要包括刺激仪和电极。tES 依据刺激电流主要分为经颅直流电流刺激(transcranial direct current stimulation,tDCS)和经颅交流电流刺激(transcranial alternating current stimulation,tACS)两种,依据刺激电极极性tDCS 又分为阳极tDCS(anodal tDCS,atDCS)和 阴 极tDCS(cathodal tDCS,ctDCS)。tACS 则主要提供特定频率的正弦交流电刺激,伪刺激在tDCS 和tACS 中作为对照使用。刺激电极的选材也十分简单,如生理盐水浸泡的海绵、导电凝胶等,不仅可以减少刺激部位与电极接触的不良反应,还可以避免如tDCS 中的电极极化等问题。此外,根据刺激方案不同,tES 刺激电极可置于头皮的任一位置,其对电极在啮齿动物中通常置于胸腹部(图1A)。刺激状态通常可分为自由活动状态和束缚状态(图1B)。

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of tES in rodents. A:the set-up of tES in rodents;B:tES for freely moving rodents(left)and restrained rodents(right). During freely moving state,animals can move freely in an experimental apparatus,such as in a cage. tES includes two electrodes:active electrode and counter electrode. The active electrode is positioned over the skull,and the counter electrode is usually applied over the ventral thorax. The active electrode consists of a plastic tube filling with saline solution just prior to stimulation. The counter electrode can be an adhesive conductive gel,and can be fixed by a custom corset to ensure its stability. The wires from the counter electrode to the tES stimulator can also be fixed in the corset. The size of the active electrode is specified by the diameter of the tube,and that of the counter electrode is specified by the size of the conductive gel(refer to“A fixation device for nerve stimulation in mice",patent No. 201921895884.6). There is no custom corset for the restrained animals during tES,and the counter electrode can be directly connected to the stimulator.Animals are placed in a plastic container with their heads and the above active electrodes outside,and with their noses and mouths located in a curved semicircle ring for avoiding moving. The plastic container can be fixed by several rubber bands during tES(refer to“A fixation device in mice",patent No. 201710120994.4).图1 啮齿动物tES示意图
在生物医学研究领域中,啮齿动物模型是最常用、最有利的工具之一。啮齿动物具有遗传背景清晰、方便饲养和繁殖等优势,尤其在制备各种疾病或某种症状的模型方面较为理想,如早衰小鼠模型、AD 小鼠模型等。在啮齿动物中进行tES研究具有很多优势,不仅便于操作,还可以精确地了解神经元所承受的电流强度和方向,尤其是对于一些非常规且风险较高的刺激方案[2]。……
