Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33991523›Full record

ArticleExperimental neurology2021

Non-invasive, neurotoxic surgery reduces seizures in a rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy.

Yanrong Zhang, Paul S Buckmaster, Lexuan Qiu, Jing Wang, Olivier Keunen, Sara Natasha Ghobadi, Ai Huang, Qingyi Hou, Ningrui Li, Shivek Narang and 4 more

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Experimental neurology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Precise antibody delivery to the brain via nanobubble-actuated focused ultrasound alleviates depression.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Neurotoxicity and Underlying Mechanisms of Endogenous Neurotoxins.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Yanrong ZhangDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA.
Paul S BuckmasterStanford University, Department of Comparative Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Lexuan QiuDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA.
Jing WangDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA; Department of Radiology, Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, Jinan, Shandong 250021, China.
Olivier KeunenDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA; Translational Radiomics, Quantitative Biology Unit, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg.
Sara Natasha GhobadiDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA.
Ai HuangDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA; Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
Qingyi HouDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA; Nuclear Medicine Department, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangzhou 510080, China.
Ningrui LiDepartment of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Shivek NarangDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA.
Frezghi G HabteDepartment of Radiology, Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, CA, USA.
Edward H BertramDepartment of Neurology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
Kevin S LeeDepartment of Neuroscience, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, and Center for Brain, Immunology, and Glia, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. Electronic address: ksl3h@virginia.edu.
Max WintermarkDepartment of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Stanford University, CA, USA. Electronic address: max.wintermark@gmail.com.
Stanford University · USUniversity of Virginia · USLuxembourg Institute of Health · LUStanford Medicine · US

Funding

Ictogenesis in a model of temporal lobe epilepsyR01NS040276 · NINDS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI BUCKMASTER, PAUL S. · 2000 to 2019
$5.8M
MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound Combined with Immunotherapy to Treat Malignant Brain TumorsR01CA217953 · NCI · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI HEIT, JEREMY J · 2017 to 2021
$3.1M
Precise, non-invasive, axon-sparing surgery for the treatment of drug resistant epilepsyR01NS102194 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · PI LEE, KEVIN SCOTT · 2018 to 2022
$2.1M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA217953NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS040276NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS102194
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Surgery can be highly effective for treating certain cases of drug resistant epilepsy. The current study tested a novel, non-invasive, surgical strategy for treating seizures in a rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy. The surgical approach uses magnetic resonance-guided, low-intensity focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) in combination with intravenous microbubbles to open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in a transient and focal manner. During the period of BBB opening, a systemically administered neurotoxin (Quinolinic Acid: QA) that is normally impermeable to the BBB gains access to a targeted area in the brain, destroying neurons where the BBB has been opened. This strategy is termed Precise Intracerebral Non-invasive Guided Surgery (PING). Spontaneous recurrent seizures induced by pilocarpine were monitored behaviorally prior to and after PING or under control conditions. Seizure frequency in untreated animals or animals treated with MRgFUS without QA exhibited expected seizure rate fluctuations frequencies between the monitoring periods. In contrast, animals treated with PING targeting the intermediate-temporal aspect of the hippocampus exhibited substantial reductions in seizure frequency, with convulsive seizures being eliminated entirely in two animals. These findings suggest that PING could provide a useful alternative to invasive surgical interventions for treating drug resistant epilepsy, and perhaps for treating other neurological disorders in which aberrant neural circuitries play a role.

Indexed as

AnimalsBlood-Brain BarrierDisease Models, AnimalEpilepsy, Temporal LobeIntraoperative Neurophysiological MonitoringMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMicrobubblesPilocarpineQuinolinic AcidRatsRats, Sprague-DawleySeizuresUltrasonography, InterventionalPilocarpineQuinolinic AcidEpilepsy surgeryFocused ultrasoundMagnetic resonance-guidedNeuronal lossNon-invasiveQuinolinic acid

Identifiers

PMID33991523
PMCPMC8937852
OpenAlexW3161880678

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.