FIGURE 1.

Visualizing vessel contraction and the concept of NTIRE to ablate epileptic foci. (A) Mice are implanted with microelectrodes and cranial windows. In the simplest configuration, the electric field for NTIRE or TIRE is applied between the two microelectrodes under the cranial window (white arrows). (B) 2-photon fluorescence imaging is used to visualize the contraction or destruction of blood vessels due to the applied electric field. (C) The primary difference between NTIRE (non-thermal) and TIRE (thermal) ablation process is the duty cycle of the stimulation. NTIRE uses very short pulses per period at high-voltage which ablate neurons non-thermally via electroporation while vessels remain in place. TIRE uses longer pulses per period which coagulate tissue, ablating neurons thermally and causing destruction of vessels and bleeding (detailed discussion of NTIRE and thermal versus non-thermal ablation parameters in Supplementary Figure 1).