Gentle on my mind: implants inspired by sea cucumbers

The hard probes they use now for brain implants scar the surrounding tissue. According to a Nov. 3, 2011 news item on Nanowerk, there may be a way to minimize the scarring,

A hard probe inserted in the cerebral cortex of a rat model turns nearly as pliable as the surrounding gray matter in minutes, and induces less of the tough scarring that walls off hard probes that do not change, researchers at Case Western Reserve University have found.

In the first test of the nanocomposite probe inspired by the dynamic skin of the sea cucumber, the immune response differed compared to that of a metal probe, and appeared to enable the brain to heal faster.

Here’s a little more about standard brain probes and this new approach (from the news item),

Brain probes are used to study and treat neurological disorders. But, wires or silicon materials being used damage surrounding tissue over time and accumulate scarring, because they are far harder than brain matter.

In this test, “The scar wall is more diffuse; the nanocomposite probe is not completely isolated in the same way a traditional stiff probe is,” said Dustin Tyler, a professor of biomedical engineering and leader of the experiment.

The result may prove beneficial. Studies by others in the field indicate the greater the isolation, the less effective the probe is at recording and relaying brain signals.

I was quite interested in the sea cucumber inspiration (from the news item),

The new probe material is inspired by the skin of the sea cucumber, which is normally soft and flexible, but becomes rigid for its own defense within seconds of being touched. These changing mechanical properties may improve our interaction with our brain, Tyler said.

In the nanocomposite, short polymer chains are linked together in a network mesh to make the material rigid, which is necessary for insertion into the cortex. In the presence of water, the mesh begin unlinking in seconds, changing to a soft, rubbery material designed to cause less damage to surrounding brain tissue over time.

For anyone who’d like to find the article,

Journal of Neural Engineering vol. 8, no. 6, “Mechanically adaptive intracortical implants improve the proximity of neuronal cell bodies”

J P Harris, J R Capadona, R H Miller, B C Healy, K Shanmuganathan, S J Rowan, C Weder and D J Tyler

doi:10.1088/1741-2560/8/6/066011

These days it seems as if biomimcry is taking over research.

On a completely other note, this research reminded of a song, Gentle on my mind, which was a big hit for Glen Campbell decades ago. It was written by John Hartford and who also sang it. I found this hommage to John Hartford on the YouTube,

Happy Weekend!

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