Journal Article

Integrating artificial intelligence and optogenetics for Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and therapeutics in male mice

Kim, Daesoo, Kim, Dae-gun, Choi, Sian, Kim, Woori, Kim, Choong Yeon, Hyeon, Bobae, Heo, Won Do, Jeong, Jae-Woong, Kim, Kwang-Soo, Lee, Jae-Hun, Shin, Jaehyun, Lee, Heeyoung, Lee, C. Justin, Kwon, Jea

2025

Overview

Parkinson’s disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, presents complex motor symptoms and lacks effective disease-modifying treatments. Here we show that integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with optogenetic intervention, termed optoRET, modulating c-RET (REarranged during Transfection) signalling, enables task-independent behavioural assessments and therapeutic benefits in freely moving male AAV-hA53T mice. Utilising a 3D pose estimation technique, we developed tree-based AI models that detect PD severity cohorts earlier and with higher accuracy than conventional methods. Employing an explainable AI technique, we identified a comprehensive array of PD behavioural markers, encompassing gait and spectro-temporal features. Moreover, our AI-driven analysis highlights that optoRET effectively alleviates PD progression by improving limb coordination and locomotion and reducing chest tremor. Our study demonstrates the synergy of integrating AI and optogenetic techniques to provide an efficient diagnostic method with extensive behavioural evaluations and sets the stage for an innovative treatment strategy for PD. This study combines AI and light-based brain stimulation to detect and treat Parkinson’s disease in mice, enabling early diagnosis and deeper insight into symptoms and treatment effects.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 13/51 / 13/95 / 42/44 / 631/114/1305 / 631/1647/2253 / 631/378/1689/1718 / 64/60 / Animals / Artificial Intelligence / Behavior, Animal / Diagnosis / Disease Models, Animal / Explainable artificial intelligence / Frequency / Gait / Genetics / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Information processing / Ligands / Locomotion / Male / Males / Medical treatment / Mice / Mice, Inbred C57BL / Mice, Transgenic / Movement disorders / multidisciplinary / Neurodegenerative diseases / Optics / Optogenetics - methods / Parkinson Disease - diagnosis / Parkinson Disease - genetics / Parkinson Disease - physiopathology / Parkinson Disease - therapy / Parkinson's disease / Pathology / Pose estimation / Proteins / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Signs and symptoms / Temporal variability / Toxicity / Transfection / Tremor