Neuroimplant with self-winding
New Brain Implant Powered by Breathing energy
Sergey Vasiliev, Naked Science
Brain implants are used to help patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. They allow you to correct the abnormal activity of nerve cells with the help of weak electrical impulses. Every year, such devices are installed to hundreds of thousands of patients, and in the future there will be even more of them: experimental implants show good results for other brain disorders.
However, their energy consumption is quite high, and the built-in batteries are only enough for two or three years of operation. After this period, the operation has to be carried out again only to replace the battery. It is not surprising that scientists and doctors are looking for alternative options for providing implants that work in the brain. Recently, such a concept was presented by a team from the University of Connecticut (USA). The article was published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Sciences (Elsanadidy et al., Self-sustainable intermittent deep brain stimulator).
James Rusling and his colleagues relied on the triboelectric effect — the appearance of charges in a material due to friction against another material. The phenomenon is known thanks to many popular experiments, including electrification of a balloon when rubbing against hair. The nanogenerator used in the new device works similarly. At the same time, he receives movement for frictional contact due to natural movements during breathing.
A working nanogenerator accumulates a charge on an ionistor — an electrochemical capacitor, which, in turn, feeds the operation of the implant. "We tried to make everything compatible with existing technologies," she explained Esraa Elsanadidi, one of the authors of the work. "Theoretically, if someone already has a brain stimulator installed, its battery can simply be replaced with this generator without implanting a new device."
In fact, if the electrodes of such implants go deep into the brain, then the control electronics and battery are usually placed under the skin, in the form of a separate unit, relatively accessible to surgeons. Scientists tested a similar system with a new generator in vivo by implanting the device in a pig. The operation was successful, and the triboelectric effect allowed the brain implant simulator to be powered.: he gave out 60 electrical pulses per second, as is required for correction in Parkinson's disease.
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