The Actions of Ultrasound on the Myelinated Nerve, the Spinal Cord and the Brain

Abstract

The action of ultrasound on the living things have been actively studied since the pioneer work of Wood-Loomis (1927). It was studied on the nervous tissues by Fry, Wulff, Tucker and Fry (1950), Oka, Okumura, Yokoi and Miyoshi (1952), Barnard, Fry, Fry and Krumins (1955) and Ballantine, Hueter, Nauta and Sosa (1956). The thermal aspect of the actions of ultrasound on the muscle and the nervous tissue was studied by Herrick (1952), and Welkowitz and Fry (1957). The physio-chemical aspect of the actions of ultrasound on the living matters was done by Lehmann (1952). Which one of these actions plays a main role has long been a center of discussion. The above studies concerned the destructive action of high intensity ultrasound, and the stimulative action of ultrasound has hardly been studied. This paper is mainly concerned with the stimulative action of ultrasound on the myelinated nerve, the spinal cord and the brain. The results are compared with the effect of temperature on the spinal cord. The mechanism of the actions of ultrasound is discussed. © 1960, PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN. All rights reserved.