A micro robot created in Korea has the ability to establish neural connections in a living organism. Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute.
A research team led by Professor Khonsu Choi has created microrobots suitable for manipulating living nervous tissue. They are suitable for the analysis of neural networks that are functionally connected in the environment. ex vivo, also for the transmission of cells to the nervous tissue. The performance of these robots was determined during an experiment with brain tissue from a laboratory mouse.
To create a microrobot on the removed hippocampal cells attached superparamagnetic iron oxide particles that give the product a three-dimensional shape. With this, the robot can react to external magnetic fields and move to the right place in the tissue. After that, the authors placed the microbot on a piece of mouse hippocampal tissue and stained the cells with a fluorescent dye. In this way, using a microscope, they were able to see that the cells brought by the microbot and the cells in the hippocampal tissue section were structurally connected to each other through neurites – nerve axons.
In addition, the conducted cells can be stimulated by the microelectrode array and transmit appropriate signals to neighboring cells. Thus, scientists have the opportunity to interfere with neural activity.
As a result, the authors concluded that this technology makes it possible to create artificial neural connections and manipulate living neural tissue. Scientists hope that in the future this method will be used for targeted therapy and cell therapy of neurological disorders.
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