Title: The Future of Bioelectronic Implants: Gel-Based Conductive Polymer Electrodes
Introduction:
Technology has made remarkable strides in the field of bioelectronic implants, from traditional pacemakers and cochlear implants to more advanced brain and retinal microchips. However, the use of metals in such implants can lead to tissue inflammation and degradation over time. In an exciting development, researchers at MIT have now created a metal-free gelatinous material that mimics the properties of biological tissue while also conducting electricity. This breakthrough may pave the way for gel-based electrodes that replace traditional metal implants.
A New Solution for Bioelectronic Implants:
MIT engineers have successfully developed a high-performance conductive polymer hydrogel that replicates the electrical properties of metals while being soft, strong, and biocompatible. This gel-like material can be transformed into a printable ink and used to create flexible, rubbery electrodes that resemble biological tissue. This innovative approach may eliminate the issues associated with metals, providing a new generation of electrodes for bioelectronic implants.
The Challenge of Combining Electrical and Mechanical Properties:
The key challenge in creating gel-based electrodes lies in achieving a balance between electrical and mechanical properties. Previous attempts at using conductive polymers mixed with hydrogels resulted in materials that were either weak and brittle or had poor electrical performance. To overcome this hurdle, the MIT researchers developed a method of mixing the conductive polymer and hydrogel to create separate yet intertwined structures that optimize the characteristics of each component.
The Spaghetti Gel Approach:
The researchers compared their gel creation process to cooking spaghetti, with each component representing a type of pasta. The conductive polymer forms the electrical spaghetti, enabling the transmission of electricity, while the hydrogel represents the mechanical spaghetti, capable of transmitting mechanical forces. By printing this gel using a 3D printer, complex and customized shapes can be effortlessly fabricated, making it suitable for various organs and applications.
Successful Testing on Rats:
To validate the functionality and stability of the gel-based electrodes, the research team implanted them into rats’ hearts, sciatic nerves, and spinal cords. The electrodes demonstrated excellent performance, sending electrical pulses from the heart to an external monitor and stimulating motor activity in associated muscles and limbs. The implants remained stable throughout the duration of the study, with minimal inflammation or scarring of surrounding tissues.
Potential Applications and Future Enhancements:
The gel-based electrodes could find immediate use in assisting patients recovering from heart surgery, providing electrical support while minimizing complications and side effects. Furthermore, the researchers aim to extend the lifespan and improve the performance of the gel material, potentially revolutionizing long-term implants like pacemakers and deep brain stimulators. Ultimately, the team envisions a future where the use of metals in medical implants is replaced by gel-based alternatives that are more biocompatible and long-lasting.
Expanding Possibilities for Gel-Based Electrodes:
The development of gel-based conductive polymer electrodes opens up a world of possibilities for bioelectronic implants. Here are some potential applications and implications to consider:
1. Enhanced Patient Experience: Gel-based electrodes can provide a more comfortable and natural feeling compared to their bulky metal counterparts, improving patient experience and acceptance of implant technology.
2. Customizable and Adaptive Designs: The 3D printing capabilities of gel-based electrodes allow for bespoke shapes, conforming seamlessly to the target organ’s structure. This customization can optimize the electrical interface and improve overall implant performance.
3. Safer and Less Invasive Surgeries: Gel-based electrodes offer the potential for minimally invasive surgeries, reducing the risks associated with open procedures. This advancement could lead to quicker recovery times and reduced patient discomfort.
4. Potential for Remote Monitoring: Incorporating wireless communication capabilities into gel-based electrodes could enable remote monitoring of implant performance. Healthcare professionals could access real-time data, ensuring timely intervention if any issues arise.
Conclusion:
The development of gel-based conductive polymer electrodes represents a significant breakthrough in the field of bioelectronic implants. The innovative material offers the potential to replace metals in medical implants, providing a soft, biocompatible alternative that mimics biological tissue while maintaining electrical conductivity. As researchers strive to improve the material’s lifespan and performance, the future holds exciting possibilities for gel-based electrodes in enhancing patient outcomes and revolutionizing the field of medical implants.
Summary:
MIT engineers have created a metal-free gelatinous material that mimics biological tissue and conducts electricity. This material can be used to create printable gel-based electrodes, potentially replacing traditional metal implants. The challenge lies in balancing the electrical and mechanical properties of the gel, which the researchers overcame by creating separate yet intertwined structures. Testing on rats has shown promising results, with the gel-based electrodes maintaining stability and function over an extended period. The immediate application may be assisting patients recovering from heart surgery, but the researchers envision long-term use in various implants. The development of gel-based electrodes opens up possibilities for enhanced patient experience, customizable designs, safer surgeries, and remote monitoring. As the researchers continue to improve the material, this breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the field of bioelectronic implants.
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Do an image search for “electronic implants” and you’ll come up with a wide variety of devices, from traditional pacemakers and cochlear implants to more futuristic brain and retinal microchips aimed at increasing vision, treating depression, and restoring mobility.
Some implants are hard and bulky, while others are flexible and thin. But regardless of their form and function, nearly all implants incorporate electrodes, tiny conductive elements that attach directly to target tissues to electrically stimulate muscles and nerves.
Implantable electrodes are predominantly made of rigid metals that are electrically conductive in nature. But over time, metals can aggravate tissue and cause scarring and inflammation, which in turn can degrade implant performance.
Now, MIT engineers have developed a metal-free, gelatinous material that is as soft and strong as biological tissue and can conduct electricity in a similar way to conventional metals. The material can be made into a printable ink, which the researchers modeled on flexible, rubbery electrodes. The new material, which is a type of high-performance conductive polymer hydrogel, may one day replace metals as functional gel-based electrodes, with the appearance of biological tissue.
“This material works just like metal electrodes, but it’s made of gels that are similar to our bodies and have a similar water content,” says Hyunwoo Yuk SM ’16 PhD ’21, co-founder of SanaHeal, a medical device startup. . “It’s like an artificial tissue or nerve.”
“We believe that, for the first time, we have a strong, robust, jelly-like electrode that can potentially replace metal in stimulating nerves and interacting with the heart, brain and other organs in the body,” adds Xuanhe Zhao, professor mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering at MIT.
Zhao, Yuk, and others at MIT and elsewhere report their results in materials from nature. Co-authors of the study include first author and former MIT postdoc Tao Zhou, who is now an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University, and colleagues from Jiangxi Normal University of Science and Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
a real challenge
The vast majority of polymers are insulating in nature, which means that electricity does not easily pass through them. But there is a special, small class of polymers that can actually pass electrons through their mass. Some conductive polymers were first shown to exhibit high electrical conductivity in the 1970s, work that was later awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Recently, researchers, including those in Zhao’s lab, have been trying to use conductive polymers to make soft, metal-free electrodes for use in bioelectronic implants and other medical devices. These efforts have aimed at making soft yet strong electrically conductive films and patches, primarily by mixing conductive polymer particles with hydrogel, a type of soft, spongy, water-rich polymer.
The researchers hoped that the combination of conductive polymer and hydrogel would produce a flexible, biocompatible, and electrically conductive gel. But the materials made to date were either too weak and brittle or had poor electrical performance.
“In gel materials, the electrical and mechanical properties are always fighting each other,” says Yuk. “If you improve the electrical properties of a gel, you have to sacrifice the mechanical properties and vice versa. But in reality, we need both: a material must be conductive, and also elastic and resistant. That was the real challenge and the reason why the People couldn’t turn conductive polymers into reliable devices made entirely of gel.”
electric spaghetti
In their new study, Yuk and his colleagues found that they needed a new recipe for mixing conductive polymers with hydrogels in a way that would improve the electrical and mechanical properties of the respective ingredients.
“People used to rely on random, homogeneous mixing of the two materials,” says Yuk.
Such mixtures produced gels made of randomly dispersed polymer particles. The group realized that to preserve the electrical and mechanical strengths of the conductive polymer and hydrogel respectively, both ingredients must be mixed so that they slightly repel each other, a state known as phase separation. In this slightly separate state, each ingredient could link their respective polymers together to form long, microscopic strands, while also blending together as a whole.
“Imagine we’re making electrical and mechanical spaghetti,” Zhao offers. “The electrical spaghetti is the conductive polymer, which can now transmit electricity through the material because it’s continuous. And the mechanical spaghetti is the hydrogel, which can transmit mechanical forces and be strong and elastic because it’s also continuous.”
The researchers then modified the recipe to cook the spaghetti gel into an ink, which they fed through a 3D printer and printed on pure hydrogel films, in patterns similar to conventional metal electrodes.
“Because this gel is 3D printable, we can customize geometries and shapes, making it easy to fabricate electrical interfaces for all kinds of organs,” says first author Zhou.
The researchers then implanted the printed jelly-like electrodes into the heart, sciatic nerve, and spinal cord of rats. The team tested the electrical and mechanical performance of the electrodes on the animals for up to two months and found that the devices remained stable throughout, with little inflammation or scarring of surrounding tissues. The electrodes were also able to transmit electrical pulses from the heart to an external monitor, as well as send small pulses to the sciatic nerve and spinal cord, which in turn stimulated motor activity in the associated muscles and limbs.
In the future, Yuk envisions that an immediate application for the new material may be for people recovering from heart surgery.
“These patients need a few weeks of electrical support to avoid a heart attack as a side effect of the surgery,” says Yuk. “Then doctors sew a metal electrode to the surface of the heart and stimulate it for weeks. We can replace those metal electrodes with our gel to minimize the complications and side effects that people now accept.”
The team is working to extend the useful life and performance of the material. The gel could then be used as a smooth electrical interface between organs and long-term implants, including pacemakers and deep brain stimulators.
“The goal of our group is to replace the glass, ceramic and metal inside the body, with something like Jell-O so that it is more benign but better performing and can last for a long time,” says Zhao. “That is our hope.”
This research is supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230615183218.htm
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