Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has shown wide clinical applications for\ntreating various disorders of central nervous system. High frequency stimulation (HFS)\nof pulses with a constant intensity and a constant frequency is typically used in DBS.\nHowever, new stimulation paradigms with time-varying parameters provide a prospective\ndirection for DBS developments. To meet the research demands for time-varying\nstimulations, we designed a new stimulation system with a technique of LabVIEWbased\nvirtual instrument.\nMethods: The system included a LabVIEW program, a NI data acquisition card, and an\nanalog stimulus isolator. The output waveforms of the system were measured to verify\nthe time-varying parameters. Preliminary animal experiments were run by delivering\nthe HFS sequences with time-varying parameters to the hippocampal CA1 region of\nanesthetized rats.\nResults: Verification results showed that the stimulation system was able to generate\npulse sequences with ramped intensity and hyperbolic frequency accurately.\nApplication of the time-varying HFS sequences to the axons of pyramidal cells in the\nhippocampal CA1 region resulted in neuronal responses different from those induced\nby HFS with constant parameters. The results indicated important modulations of timevarying\nstimulations to the neuronal activity that could prevent the stimulation from\ninducing over-synchronized firing of population neurons.\nConclusions: The stimulation system provides a useful technique for investigating\ndiverse stimulation paradigms for the development of new DBS treatments.
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