By employing magnetic fields to turn on and off particular groupings of neurons, researchers have created a novel gene therapy technique that may be able to regulate brain circuits impacted by Parkinson’s disease. This method, known as magnetogenetics, may be used to treat diseases like obesity, chronic pain, and depression.
With advances in science, gene treatments for brain disorders have made great progress. Magnetogenetics employs magnetic fields instead of intrusive devices to accomplish comparable results as optogenetics, which uses light and fiber optic implants to regulate neurons. Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, The Rockefeller University, and Weill Cornell Medicine worked together to make this discovery feasible.
Professor and Weill Cornell neurological surgery executive vice-chair Michael Kaplitt said, “We envision that magnetogenetics technology may be used to benefit patients in a wide range of clinical settings someday.”
The method makes use of ion channels, which are proteins that permit ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, or chloride to flow across the plasma membrane of a cell and facilitate neuronal communication. These ion channels were created by researchers using a nanobody that attaches to ferritin, a protein that naturally stores iron. Magnetic fields can be used to manipulate these iron atoms in order to open or close ion channels, so turning on or off neurons in the brain regions that receive gene therapy.
In tests with mice, magnetogenetic therapy was delivered to neurons in the movement-controlling striatum region of the brain. Exposure to a magnetic field significantly slowed or froze the mice’s movements. In another experiment with Parkinson’s disease models, targeting neurons in the subthalamic nucleus region reduced movement abnormalities.
Notably, the researchers found that a smaller, less expensive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device worked just as effectively as an MRI machine in activating the technology. The team plans to explore further clinical applications, including treatments for psychiatric conditions and chronic pain, while continuing to refine this promising technology.