Graphene instead of electrodes implanted in the brain

Scientists have successfully introduced graphene electrodes into brain neurons

DailyTechInfo based on Gizmag: Graphene successfully interacted with neurons in the brain

Neuroscientists have been looking for new ways to introduce electrodes of various types that effectively interact with the neurons of the human brain for a long time. These electrodes will allow reading information from the brain and artificially stimulate nerve tissue cells, which can become one of the methods of treating some neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. And last month, a group of researchers from Italy and the UK managed to demonstrate how graphene, one of the most amazing materials in the world, can interact with neurons.

It should be noted that this is not the first attempt by researchers to use graphene to create interfaces between the brain and electronics. However, in all previous attempts, graphene electrodes could only provide a signal with a low level and a low signal-to-noise ratio. But the efforts of scientists from the University of Trieste, Italy, and the University of Cambridge, UK, were crowned with success due to the fact that they used electrodes made of raw graphene.

"We have connected graphene electrodes directly to neurons for the first time," says Professor Laura Ballerini from the University of Trieste in Italy. "With the help of these electrodes, we were able to receive electrical signals from neurons, which are a reflection of brain activity. In addition, we checked that the presence of electrodes did not affect the functioning of these neurons in any way."

Prior to the experiments with graphene-based substrates (GBS), scientists introduced microelectrodes made of tungsten or silicon. The use of matrices of such electrodes was successful for some time, but then, due to the reaction of the human body to injury, denser protective tissues formed around these electrodes, which served as a hindrance to receiving high-quality signals. In addition, due to the high hardness and fragility of the materials, the electrode matrices failed after a while due to mechanical damage.

However, pure graphene has flexibility, strength and it is absolutely safe for a living organism. Scientists' experiments conducted on nerve cells taken from the brain of an experimental animal have shown that graphene interacts very well with nerve tissues and provides high-quality signals without any negative side effects.

Neurons on a graphene substrate. A drawing from an article by Fabbro et al.
Graphene-Based Interfaces Do Not Alter Target Nerve Cells, 
published in the journal ACS Nano – VM.

"Currently, we are just entering the borderline area where graphene nanotechnology and biomedicine converge," says Professor Maurizio Prato, "And further development of highly efficient biomedical devices based on graphene will require additional studies of the interaction of graphene nano– and micro–coatings with the signaling mechanism of nerve tissue cells. And our work is the first step in this direction."

In conclusion, it should be noted that these works were carried out within the framework and under the financing of the Graphene Flagship project, a European initiative aimed at connecting the fields of theory and practice to reduce the time required for all "graphene technologies" on the way from laboratories to the end user.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru 26.02.2015