Stimulation strategies for electrical and magnetic modulation of cells and tissues

Electrical phenomena play an important role in numerous biological processes including cellular signaling, early embryogenesis, tissue repair and remodeling, and growth of organisms. Electrical and magnetic effects have been studied on a variety of stimulation strategies and cell types regarding cellular functions and disease treatments. In this review, we discuss recent advances in using three different stimulation strategies, namely electrical stimulation via conductive and piezoelectric materials as well as magnetic stimulation via magnetic materials, to modulate cell and tissue properties. These three strategies offer distinct stimulation routes given specific material characteristics. This review will evaluate material properties and biological response for these stimulation strategies with respect to their potential applications in neural and musculoskeletal research.

Auditory performance of post-lingually deafened adult cochlear implant recipients using electrode deactivation based on postoperative cone beam CT images

PURPOSE

The use of image processing techniques to estimate the position of intra-cochlear electrodes has enabled the creation of personalized maps to meet the individual stimulation needs of cochlear implant (CI) recipients. The aim of this study was to evaluate a novel technique of electrode deactivation based on postoperative cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images in post-lingually deafened adult CI recipients.

METHODS

Based on postoperative CBCT images, the positioning of the electrodes was estimated in relation to the modiolus in 14 ears of 13 post-lingually deafened adult CI recipients. The electrodes sub-optimally positioned or involved in kinking and tip fold-over were deactivated. Speech perception scores in silence and in noise were obtained from subjects using the standard map and were followed up 4 weeks after image-based electrode deactivation reprogramming technique (IBEDRT). The participants selected their preferred map after 4 weeks of IBEDRT use.

RESULTS

There were statistically significant improvements in the speech recognition tests in silence and noise when comparing IBEDRT performance to the standard map. All participants elected the IBEDRT as their new preferred map.

CONCLUSIONS

IBEDRT is a promising technique for fitting CI recipients and minimizing channel interaction increased by the positioning of the electrodes sub-optimally placed, thereby improving their auditory performance. We propose a novel electrode deactivation technique based on postoperative CBCT imaging, with a limited number of deactivated electrodes and a low-dosing scanning which could be applied for clinical routine.

A method for expansion of T cells from cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

T cells have been successfully applied to cancer immunotherapy. However, a challenge is an expansion of T cells from cynomolgus monkey, which is a valuable non-human primate model for T cell therapy transferring to the clinic. Here, we compared several strategies to expand cynomolgus monkey T cell and developed an appropriate method. Our study demonstrated that 100 ng/ml CD3 mAb + 1% PHA+ 1000 U/ml IL2 therapy significantly expanded peripheral blood CD3+ T cells without compromising T cell phenotype in vitro. The results of this study could be used for T cell remodeling, which has significant therapeutic potential in Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T (CAR-T) cell immunotherapy.