Cyborg rats
A wireless neurostimulator controls the behavior of rats
Marina Astvatsaturyan, Echo of Moscow
Stimulation of deep brain structures by implantable neurostimulators is a promising way to treat neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, hereditary tremor and epilepsy. But the use of wired neurostimulators is often associated with undesirable side effects, in particular, infection, as well as discomfort and the need for surgical interventions to replace fragile components and batteries. Therefore, scientists have turned to wireless technologies that can provide accurate and minimally invasive effects on the deep structures of the brain.
A group of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (Massachusetts General Hospital) studied the possibilities of a tiny wireless neurostimulator called e-Particle, that is, an "electronic particle", which in this case has nothing to do with a subatomic particle.
According to one of the creators of the device, Alik Widge, who cites Physicsworld, "by understanding how influencing brain activity can influence behavior, we can better understand the work of the brain and develop more effective treatment... and one of the best ways to influence brain activity is to stimulate it." At the same time, Widge points out the disadvantages of bulky wired stimulators in experiments on the study of social behavior in animals.
The e-Particle neurostimulator is powered by an inductor and does not require a battery. Scientists tested it on eight rats, implanting it in the same place in the brain and targeting the medial forebrain bundle – a common target of behavior experiments.
For comparison, wired stimulators – electrodes were implanted on the opposite side. After the rodents recovered from surgery, they were placed several times for 15 minutes in a certain area without stimulation to develop a so-called conditional place preference reaction. This reaction, a form of the Pavlov conditioned reflex, is used by neuroscientists to measure the motivational impact of objects or experiences.
Then, in the same zone, the animals were repeatedly subjected to both wired and wireless stimulation. The results of these experiments are published in the Journal of Neural Engineering (Maeng et al., Behavioral validation of a wireless low-power neurostimulation technology in a conditioned place preference task) and indicate the effect of wireless neurostimulation on rat behavior, almost indistinguishable from the effect of wired stimulation. Subsequent immunochemical analysis confirmed the activity in the medial forebrain bundle caused by implantation of a wireless stimulator.
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