Stimulating the Brain’s Delicate Tissues with Flexible Nanoelectrodes
Conventional implantable medical devices designed for brain stimulation are often too rigid and bulky for the softest and most delicate tissues in the body. To solve this, engineers at Rice University developed ultra-flexible nanoelectrodes that could serve as an implanted platform for delivering effective long-term stimulation therapy. The devices are minimally invasive, high-resolution, and provide precise spatiotemporal control of stimuli. The new electrode design represents a significant improvement over conventional implantable electrodes used to treat Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which can cause adverse responses and unwanted changes in neuronal activity.
Advancements in Brain Stimulation
The success of the new flexible nanoelectrodes holds great potential for the development of new brain stimulation therapies. Neural prostheses for patients with altered sensory or motor functions can be developed further due to the high biocompatibility of the devices. The tiny implantable devices formed stable, durable, and seamless tissue-electrode interfaces with minimal scarring or degradation in rodents, according to a study published in Cell Reports. The study shows how these tissue-embedded electrodes enhance stimulation efficacy. Each neuron was given its own attunement and coordination in a specific pattern, providing high control over the stimuli.
More Focused Neuro Stimulation
When electrical pulses are emitted via conventional electrodes, the firing of the neurons becomes more diffuse when large currents are used. The team was able to reduce the current required to cause neural firing by up to an order of magnitude. With these advances in control over stimuli, new sensory prosthetic devices can be developed. More focused and deliberate firing of neurons provides a more precise sensation generated with higher resolution pacing devices.
Further Developments for Brain Stimulation
The electrode arrays designed by Luan and Xie are also collaborating on the development of an implantable visual prosthesis for blind patients. A future where electrode arrays can restore impaired sensory function can be imagined, with more focused stimulation providing more precise sensations.
Summary:
Engineers at Rice University have developed ultra-flexible nanoelectrodes for brain stimulation that provide precise spatiotemporal control over spatiotemporal stimuli. These new devices are minimally invasive, high-resolution, and provide precise spatiotemporal control of stimuli. The new electrode design represents a significant improvement over conventional implantable electrodes used to treat a variety of conditions. The use of the electrode enables scientists to make more focused and deliberate firings of neurons, which provides a more precise sensation. The electrode arrays designed by the team are also collaborating on the development of an implantable visual prosthesis for blind patients.
Additional Piece
Brain Stimulation as a Medical Practice
Brain stimulation has been used for centuries as a method of medicinal treatment. The Greeks were renowned for applying electric shocks to the head to cure depression and other similar illnesses. Today, brain stimulation is a medical practice used to treat Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. New developments in this field include research done by Rice University’s engineers, which utilizes flexible nanoelectrodes to stimulate the brain instead of the conventional electrodes that were being used previously.
The Implications of Nano-electrodes Technology
The implications of nanoelectrodes technology and its advancements offer a bright future for brain stimulation. This field has shown great potential in treating severe depression by bypassing connectivity issues caused by complex circuitry by selectively stimulating specific neural pathways. While being more invasive, older forms of brain stimulation cause widespread depolarization. More recent methods are improving and becoming more precise, with some applications using modulated frequency stimulation to inactive specific neuronal pathways. This creates a new level of targeted therapy and opens doors for more precise stimulation and more focused investigations into how different therapies affect different neurons in the brain.
Developing a Rehabilitation Program
Neurological rehabilitation programs help patients recover from traumatic brain injuries or other severe conditions that often lead to some form of cerebral damage. This includes movement problems, cognitive impairments, language difficulties, and memory loss. The advances in technology in this field offer the most potential to people who are in dire need of neurological rehabilitation. Researchers can use simulation therapy to exercise the brain to reconstruct neural pathways lost in injuries. This therapy can significantly improve the lives of people who have had conditions like traumatic brain injuries or strokes.
Focus Stimulation As a Treatment
Focus stimulation is still a new method of treating disorders and stimulates neurons more precisely than non-focused stimulation methods. With the implementation of the newest nano-electrodes designed for stimulating specific neurons, more targeted treatment plans are possible. These plans can provide optimal stimulation therapy for a range of different conditions. Brain stimulation has shown potential in treating conditions such as epilepsy, migraines, and depression, all of which affect a significant number of people worldwide.
Challenges In The Field
While this is an exciting field, there are still challenges to be addressed. For example, negative side effects can occur if too much stimulation is administered. Researchers must eventually determine the right amount of stimulation necessary for each type of therapy and advance to more targeted therapy programs. This technology is still primarily in the testing phase, with more research needed before it can be used in clinical care.
Conclusion:
Brain stimulation offers new hope for patients in need of neurological rehabilitation. Advances in technology, such as flexible nanoelectrodes, are making strides in the field. The infrastructure developed and advances from neuroscientists and neurologists are creating an entirely new direction in treating conditions like epilepsy, migraines, and depression, all of which affect a significant number of people worldwide. While this technology is still primarily in the testing phase, these improvements have the potential to bring more precision and targeted therapies while limiting negative side effects. Eye-opening discoveries in this field offer hope for people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions.
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Conventional implantable medical devices designed for brain stimulation are often too rigid and bulky for some of the softest and most delicate tissues in the body.
To address the problem, engineers at Rice University have developed minimally invasive, ultra-flexible nanoelectrodes that could serve as an implanted platform for delivering long-term, high-resolution stimulation therapy.
According to a study published in cell reports, the tiny implantable devices formed stable, durable, and seamless tissue-electrode interfaces with minimal scarring or degradation in rodents. The devices delivered electrical pulses that matched neuronal signaling patterns and amplitudes more closely than stimuli from conventional intracortical electrodes.
The high biocompatibility of the devices and the precise spatiotemporal control of the stimuli could allow the development of new brain stimulation therapies, such as neural prostheses for patients with altered sensory or motor functions.
“This paper uses histological, behavioral, and imaging techniques to show how these tissue-embedded electrodes enhance stimulation efficacy,” said Lan Luan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and corresponding author of the study. “Our electrode emits small electrical pulses to excite neural activity in a very controllable way.
“We were able to reduce the current required to cause neural firing by more than an order of magnitude. The pulses can be as subtle as a couple hundred microseconds in duration and one to two microamps in amplitude.”
The new electrode design developed by researchers at the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative represents a significant improvement over conventional implantable electrodes used to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which can cause adverse responses. in tissues and unwanted changes in neuronal activity.
“Conventional electrodes are very invasive,” said Chong Xie, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and corresponding author of the study. “They recruit thousands or even millions of neurons at a time.
“Each of those neurons is supposed to have its own attunement and coordination in a specific pattern. But when you fire all of them at the same time, you’re basically disrupting their function. In some cases, that works well for you and has the desired effect.” “. therapeutic effect. But if, for example, you want to encode sensory information, you need much more control over the stimuli.”
Xie compared stimulation via conventional electrodes to the disturbing effect of “blowing an air horn in everyone’s ear or blasting a loudspeaker” in a room full of people.
“We used to have this very big speaker, and now everyone has a headset,” he said.
The ability to adjust the frequency, duration, and intensity of signals could enable the development of new sensory prosthetic devices.
“The firing of the neurons is more diffuse if you use a larger current,” Luan said. “We were able to reduce the current and show that we have much more focused activation. This can translate into higher resolution pacing devices.”
Luan and Xie are core members of the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative, and their labs are also collaborating on the development of an implantable visual prosthesis for blind patients.
“Imagine that one day you’ll be able to implant electrode arrays to restore impaired sensory function: the more focused and deliberate the firing of neurons, the more precise the sensation you’re generating,” Luan said.
An earlier iteration of the devices was used to record brain activity.
“We’ve had a number of publications showing that this intimate tissue integration enabled by the ultra-flexible design of our electrode actually improves our ability to record brain activity longer and with better signal-to-noise ratios,” said Luan, who has been promoted to associate professor effective July 1.
Electrical and computer engineering postdoctoral associate Roy Lycke and graduate student Robin Kim are the study’s lead authors.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS109361, U01 NS115588) and internal Rice funding supported the research.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230530174315.htm
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