Brain-on-a-chip

Biologists have grown a 12-second memory in a Petri dishJulia Rudy, Membrane based on the materials of the University of Pittsburgh:

Pitt Researchers Recreate Brain Cell Networks With Unprecedented View of Activity Behind Memory FormationScientists from the USA have created a miniature brain consisting of 60 neurons of rats in a conventional laboratory vessel.

Experiments have shown that a network of nerve cells is capable of processing the received information for a long period of time.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh placed a layer of proteins on a silicon disk that stimulate the growth of embryonic hippocampal cells deposited on top of them. After a while, the grown-up neurons self-organized into a kind of microcosm.

Neurons tinted with various fluorescent dyes are shown here.
The shape of the donut base was given intentionally to get a circular network
(photo by University of Pittsburgh).

Biologists with the help of chemicals suppressed the natural attenuation of impulses in the network of cells and sent an electrical signal into the wilds of neurons. As a result, he "lived" not for a quarter of a second (observed in natural conditions), but for as much as 12 seconds. This achievement will allow us to better understand how neurons process incoming signals and forward them to each other.

The process described in an article in the journal Lab on a Chip (Vishwanathan et al., Ring-shaped neural networks: a platform to study persistent activity) is similar to the mechanism of short-term memory working in the real brain.

The current achievement lays the foundation for future research in this field of neurophysiology. In particular, scientists from Pittsburgh plan to find out how the brain manages to work so effectively.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru01.06.2011