Friday, March 10, 2023

Growing Electronics Inside the Brain in live zebra fish and leeches

Amazing stuff! I could use a better brain! 😊 This seems to be early stage research!

"Bioelectronics can be made directly inside the brains of live animals by injecting a cocktail of molecules that can transform into electrically conductive gel, a new study finds.
Swedish scientists have created bioelectronics in live zebra fish and leeches with this new technique. In the long term, the ability to turn any living tissue into electronic matter could make it possible to fabricate microchips in live organisms, the researchers say. ...
The scientists developed a medley of molecules that, when injected into biological tissue, chemically reacted with naturally occurring compounds such as glucose and lactase to form an electrically conducting gel. (Before the injection, the cocktail is not electrically conductive.)
The Swedish researchers first created electronic roses in 2015. However, plant cells possess rigid walls that can serve as scaffolding to help electrodes form, whereas animal cells lack such structures. Creating a mixture of compounds that could form electronics in animals took years of work. ..."

"A recipe for in situ bioelectronic materials
There are challenges in making materials that are soft enough to be interfaced with living tissue but firm enough to be inserted into the body. Strakosas et al. bypassed this challenge by developing a route to the polymer in vivo (see the Perspective by Inal). They introduced a complex precursor system including an oxidase to generate hydrogen peroxide in situ, a peroxidase to catalyze oxidative polymerization, a water-soluble conjugated monomer, a polyelectrolyte with counterions for covalent cross linking, and a surfactant for stabilization. With this cocktail, the authors were able to induce polymerization and subsequent gelation in different tissue environments. Demonstrations include the ex situ fabrication of this conducting gel in zebrafish (brain, fin, and heart), in food samples (beef, pork, chicken, and tofu), and a proof of concept of in vivo stimulation of a leech nerve. ..."

From the abstract of the perspective:
"Electronic devices implanted into a tissue close to neurons of interest are meant to exchange signals with the nervous system. Such bioelectronic devices not only facilitate the study of neural communication, they can also hijack neural circuitry in a therapeutic approach known as bioelectronic medicine. The success of these applications relies on the robustness of the implanted devices and their compatibility with the body. Conventional bioelectronic devices have solid substrates that carry conducting films. Their rigidity can damage soft tissues and reduce an implant’s long-term performance. On page 795 of this issue, Strakosas et al. (1) address the mechanical mismatch between soft and wet biological matter and solid-state electronics and describe an approach that generates electronics directly inside a tissue without a substrate, causing little damage to the tissue."

From the abstract:
"Interfacing electronics with neural tissue is crucial for understanding complex biological functions, but conventional bioelectronics consist of rigid electrodes fundamentally incompatible with living systems. The difference between static solid-state electronics and dynamic biological matter makes seamless integration of the two challenging. To address this incompatibility, we developed a method to dynamically create soft substrate-free conducting materials within the biological environment. We demonstrate in vivo electrode formation in zebrafish and leech models, using endogenous metabolites to trigger enzymatic polymerization of organic precursors within an injectable gel, thereby forming conducting polymer gels with long-range conductivity. This approach can be used to target specific biological substructures and is suitable for nerve stimulation, paving the way for fully integrated, in vivo–fabricated electronics within the nervous system."


Growing Electronics Inside the Brain - IEEE Spectrum Experiments in live zebra fish and leeches may one day lead to growing microchips in living tissue

Perspective Turning tissues into conducting matter An electrically conducting soft polymer is synthesized within living tissue (no public access)

No comments: