Transcriptomic Study of Neural Regulation in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex of Depressive Mice with Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound

Exploring new effective treatments for depression holds important social significance and clinical value. Low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation (LIFUS) has been proven to have significant neuroprotective effects on depression. However, the specific genes regulated by LIFUS in depressive mice remain unclear. We established a depression mice model using chronic restraint stress (CRS) and applied LIFUS to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) following CRS. We explored the impact of modeling and treatment on gene expression changes through transcriptomics, revealing that the therapeutic effect of LIFUS may be associated with the improvement of the activity of calcium signaling pathway and synaptic plasticity. The study provides preclinical evidence and a theoretical basis for applying LIFUS for depression treatment.