The new 3D print of the mouse skull allows scientists to directly view and control the functioning of the rodent's brain.
There is still a lot we don't know about the human brain. Finding a simple way to track the activity of his nerve cells, neurons and synapses in real time seemed a difficult, almost impossible task until recently.
Now, however, scientists at the University of Minnesota have come up with a surprisingly simple solution to this particular problem. They invented a transparent skull cap through 3D printing that can replace the top of the skull and provide a literal “window” into the internal mechanisms of the brain.
"There has been progress in understanding how neural activity in certain areas of the cerebral cortex contributes to behavior," the researchers write. "However, there are not enough tools to simultaneously monitor and disrupt neural activity from multiple areas of the cortex."
"We have developed See-Shells - digital, morphologically realistic, transparent polymer skulls that provide long-term (over 300 days) optical access to the dorsal cortex of the mouse brain."
The existence of such a thing also raises the question - is it theoretically possible to replace the top of the human skull with a transparent shell? Perhaps in the future, such an idea may not be so impracticable.
“These are studies that we couldn't do in humans, but they are extremely important in our understanding of how the brain works. By applying this technology, we can improve the treatment of people who are injured or experiencing brain disease,”said study co-author Timothy J. Abner.
