Photo: NRC
(October 8, 2015) For nearly nine years, researchers at Lund University have
been working on developing implantable electrodes that can capture signals from
single neurons in the brain over a long period of time - without causing brain
tissue damage. They are now one big step closer to reaching this goal, and the
results are published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.
This technology would make it possible to understand brain
function in both healthy and diseased individuals.
“There are several elements that must go hand in hand for us
to be able to record neuronal signals from the brain with decisive results.
First, the electrode must be bio-friendly, that is, we have to be confident
that it does not cause any significant damage to the brain tissue. Second, the
electrode must be flexible in relation to the brain tissue. Remember that the
brain floats in fluid inside the skull and moves around when we, for instance,
breathe or turn our heads.
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THE ELECTRODES
The electrode and the implantation technology that we have
now developed have these properties, which is unique”, says Professor Jens
Schouenborg who together with Dr Lina Pettersson led the project.
The Lund researchers’ tailored electrodes, which they call
3-D electrodes, are unique in that they are extremely soft and flexible in all
three dimensions, in a way that enables stable recordings from the neurons over
a long time.
The electrode is so soft that it deflects against a water
surface. In order to implant such electrodes, the researchers have developed a
technique for encapsulating the electrodes in a hard but dissolvable gelatine
material that is also very gentle on the brain.
“This technology retains the electrodes in their original
form inside the brain and can monitor what happens inside virtually undisturbed
and normally functioning brain tissue”, says Johan Agorelius, a doctoral
student in the project.