Astrocyte-Selective Wireless Deep Brain Stimulation by Magnetite Nanodiscs at Low Alternating Magnetic Field

Authors

Cai, Y.-T., Wang, J.-C., CHIANG, P.-H.

Abstract

Astrocytes are essential regulators of synaptic transmission, brain homeostasis and behavior, and direct astrocyte activation has emerged as a promising therapeutic modality for a broad range of CNS disorders. However, selective activation of astrocytes in vivo currently requires viral transgene delivery, tethered fiber implants, or MRI-scale magnetic fields, limiting deployment across laboratories and translational settings. Here we introduce anti-GLAST-conjugated magnetite vortex nanodiscs (GLAST-MND) that, together with a low-amplitude alternating magnetic field, enable wireless, transgene-free, cell-type-specific astrocyte stimulation. The torque generated by MND is sufficient to trigger mechanosensors without the strong spatial gradient required by prior magnetomechanical glial stimulation approaches. GLAST-MND injected into the mouse dentate gyrus co-localized with the astrocyte membrane marker GLAST in vivo. Fiber-photometry in paired astrocyte (gfaABC1D-GCaMP6f) and neuron (Thy1-GCaMP6s) reporter cohorts showed that stimulation at 25 to 28 mT and 10 Hz evoked astrocyte Calcium responses 2- to 3-fold larger than non-magnetic hematite controls, while the neuron cohort showed no material-specific response. A single intracranial injection sustained stable astrocyte responses across at least five weeks and extended to seven weeks in a smaller follow-up cohort. Immunohistochemistry using the contralateral hemisphere as an internal reference confirmed that GLAST-MND stimulation did not induce local c-Fos, consistent with the absence of downstream neuronal excitation. This approach uses a scalable and affordable magnetic system compatible with freely-behaving animals, opening opportunities for astrocyte-focused neuroscience research and for the future development of astrocyte-targeted therapeutics.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 24 Aug 2026.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this preprint? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.