ReviewFrontiers in human neuroscience2022
Current State of Potential Mechanisms Supporting Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Neuromodulation.
Review in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07518927 (Mapping Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound), which is not on this map. Cited by 51 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Mapping Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFU)-Evoked Brain Network Responses Using Intracranial Electrophysiological Recordings
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The efficacy and mechanisms of low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation on pain: a systematic review of human and animal studies.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Pooled it
- Low-intensity focused ultrasound of the spine in the treatment of chronic pain and movement disorder: a scoping review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of non-invasive brain stimulation on post-stroke cognitive impairment: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Modulation of the noradrenergic system using transcranial ultrasonic stimulation targeted to the brainstem locus coeruleus in awake mice.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Thalamic sonication in chronic disorders of consciousness: a mechanistic single-arm clinical trial.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Ultrasound-Assisted multimodal neuromodulation via nanosystems.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2026Review
- Research Progress on Spinal Cord Repair Based on Regulation of the Neuroregenerative Microenvironment.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation in Psychiatric Disorders: Mechanisms, Models, and Missing Links.Biological psychiatry · 2026Review
- Emerging Nonpharmacologic Analgesic Technologies in Anesthesia: Mechanisms, Evidence, and Future Directions for Pharmacologic Alternatives.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Unlocking a Novel Therapeutic Modality: Low-Intensity Transcranial Ultrasound as a Key to CNS Treatment - A Bibliometric and Systematic Review.Journal of central nervous system disease · 2026Review
- Non-invasive neuromodulation techniques for cognitive impairment intervention.American journal of translational research · 2026Review
- Ultrasound-transparent neural interfaces for multimodal interaction.Npj flexible electronics · 2026Article
- Role of thalamus in human conscious perception revealed by low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Neuromodulatory Effects of Transcranial Pulse Stimulation (TPS) in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neurology international · 2025Review
- Dose-Escalation Study of Amygdalar Transcranial Focused Ultrasound in Healthy Volunteers.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- A panoramic review of transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation: from basic research to clinical applications.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2025Review
- Using Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound to Treat Depression and Anxiety Disorders: A Review of Current Evidence.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Article
- Understanding the high-order network plasticity mechanisms of ultrasound neuromodulation.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Role of Thalamus in Human Conscious Perception Revealed by Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) has been gaining traction as a non-invasive neuromodulation technology due to its superior spatial specificity relative to transcranial electrical/magnetic stimulation. Despite a growing literature of LIFU-induced behavioral modifications, the mechanisms of action supporting LIFU's parameter-dependent excitatory and suppressive effects are not fully understood. This review provides a comprehensive introduction to the underlying mechanics of both acoustic energy and neuronal membranes, defining the primary variables for a subsequent review of the field's proposed mechanisms supporting LIFU's neuromodulatory effects. An exhaustive review of the empirical literature was also conducted and studies were grouped based on the sonication parameters used and behavioral effects observed, with the goal of linking empirical findings to the proposed theoretical mechanisms and evaluating which model best fits the existing data. A neuronal intramembrane cavitation excitation model, which accounts for differential effects as a function of cell-type, emerged as a possible explanation for the range of excitatory effects found in the literature. The suppressive and other findings need additional theoretical mechanisms and these theoretical mechanisms need to have established relationships to sonication parameters.
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Registered trials
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.