Researchers have developed ultra-flexible brain probes that accurately record brain activity without causing tissue damage. This opens up new avenues for the treatment of a range of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Neurostimulators, also known as brain pacemakers, send electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain via special electrodes. It is estimated that some 200,000 people worldwide are now benefiting from this technology, including those who suffer from Parkinson's disease or from pathological muscle spasms.
This sets the new electrodes apart from rival technologies. Of these, perhaps the best known in the public sphere is the one from Neuralink, an Elon Musk company. In all such systems, including Neuralink's, the electrodes are considerably wider."The wider the probe, even if it is flexible, the greater the risk of damage to brain tissue," Yanik explains."Our electrodes are so fine that they can be threaded past the long processes that extend from the nerve cells in the brain.
At the same time, the probes are suitable for long-term monitoring activities, with researchers recording signals from the same cells in the brains of animals for the entire duration of a ten-month experiment. Examinations showed that no brain-tissue damage occurred during this time. A further advantage is that the bundles can branch out in different directions, meaning that they can reach multiple brain areas.
Millions of patients suffering from neurological and mental disorders such as depression, addiction, and chronic pain are treatment-resistant. New research paves the way for a promising alternative: ...
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