14 DAY TRIAL // As advanced as science might be in this day and age, the fact remains that there is still a lot that researchers don't fully know or comprehend about the organ behind each and every scientific breakthrough: the human brain.
More precisely, scientists don't yet know how to treat Parkinson’s or other similar disorders that affect the neurons that make up the human brain and the connections established between them.
According to scientists speaking at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, cyborg technology might just hold the key to successfully treating Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative disorders.
These researchers, led by Charles M. Lieber, Ph.D., explain that, as shown by previous investigations, neurodegenerative disorders boil down to having malfunctioning neurons in the brain. It is these faulty nerve cells that make it difficult for some to walk, eat, or even talk.
The problem is that, in order to fully comprehend how the malfunctioning neurons causing one neurodegenerative disorder or another work, one must monitor brain activity in real time and in incredible detail.
As detailed in a press release on the American Chemical Society's website, Charles M. Lieber, Ph.D. and fellow researchers believe that keeping tabs on brain activity can be achieved with the help of cyborg technology.
Specifically, these specialists imagine using teeny tiny bits and pieces of electronic equipment to look inside neurons, figure out why it is that they are misbehaving in real time, and possibly even get them to function properly once again.
“By focusing on the nanoelectronic connections between cells, we can do things no one has done before. We’re really going into a new size regime for not only the device that records or stimulates cellular activity, but also for the whole circuit,” explains Charles M. Lieber.
“We can make it really look and behave like smart, soft biological material, and integrate it with cells and cellular networks at the whole-tissue level. This could get around a lot of serious health problems in neurodegenerative diseases in the future,” the specialist adds.
Since they first started exploring the possibility of using cyborg technology as a means to better understand and maybe even treat neurodegenerative disorders, Charles M. Lieber and his colleagues have managed to grow living tissue on a scaffold made up of very thin nanowires able to monitor and influence cell activity.
What's more, they have pieced together an electronic probe that can be used to pin down and record signals that cells send to one another. This teeny tiny probe is said to be the smallest of its kind to have until now been developed by science.
The researchers are now busy carrying out a series of experiments on laboratory rats. Thus, they are looking into the possibility of injecting very small electronics into the brains of such rodents, and have them become part and parcel of existing neuronal structures. Should these electronics become integrated into the brains of these rats, they could be used to regulate activity patterns.
Commenting on these experiments, Charles M. Lieber has wished to point out that, as promising as the idea to use cyborg technology to treat neurodegenerative disorders might sound, the fact remains that there is quite a lot of work left to be done. As he puts it, “It’s hard to say where this work will take us. But in the end, I believe our unique approach will take us on a path to do something really revolutionary.”