The brain is the most complex and poorly studied organ. The slightest violation in it can disable the whole person, turn off consciousness. Is it possible to create a "prosthesis" for a damaged brain? Modern medicine is not yet capable of such a task, but scientists are already trying to do something in this direction.
Artificial memory
A part of the brain called the hippocampus controls our memories. If it is damaged, then the person is not able to memorize information for a long time. The hippocampus is threatened not only by injury, but also by various neurological disorders, for example, epilepsy, depression, Alzheimer's disease.
Since 2012, a group of American scientists led by Theodore Berger has been developing a device that replaces the damaged part of the hippocampus. It is a chip with two sets of electrodes that records short-term memories. Using the first set of electrodes, electrical impulses from the hippocampus are sent to the chip, and from there are sent to the computer. He converts the data into long-term memories and sends it to a second set of electrodes, implanted in a healthy part of the hippocampus.
The artificial hippocampus was tested in rats. The animals were injected with a substance that disrupts long-term memory, then a chip was connected and their ability to memorize information was tested. Implants have been shown to be effective. According to Berger's group, similar experiments were carried out on monkeys and even on patients with epilepsy. Of course, in the human brain there are too many neurons and connections between them, so it is too early to talk about the treatment of people. Nevertheless, scientists intend to bring the implant to the market, for which they created a startup Kernel, which was headed by Berger.
Rescue cage
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Due to injuries and diseases, connections in neural networks are broken, and the functions that the damaged parts of the brain performed are lost. In some cases, the body is able to restore connections between neurons on its own, it only needs a framework on which new tissues will grow.
The natural scaffold for tissue growth in the body is the extracellular matrix. It also acts as a barrier between cells and blood, stores biologically active molecules produced by the cells it contains, provides an influx of nutrients and oxygen to cells and removes waste products. Failure in the functioning of the extracellular matrix leads to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, various forms of dementia. The new framework could alleviate the patient's condition and even cure him.
Doctors from the First Moscow State Medical University named after IM Sechenov and the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health, together with physicists from the Institute of Photonic Technologies of the Federal Research Center "Crystallography and Photonics", decided to create a prosthesis for the extracellular matrix for the brain. The project was supported by the Russian Science Foundation.
“Our research cycle is dedicated to the development of three-dimensional artificial materials, analogs of the extracellular matrix made of polymers. They repeat the mechanical properties of the brain, support the growth and division of cells. The created structures will be able to imitate the lost intercellular matrix of the nervous tissue and contribute to its restoration,”says Petr Timashev, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Photonic Technologies, Director of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine of the First Moscow State Medical University named after IM Sechenov, winner of the Moscow Government Prize.
The graft is already undergoing clinical trials in laboratory animals. Scientists took brain tissue from a mouse and transplanted it onto a polymer matrix that mimics the extracellular matrix. When the tissues grew on the matrix, the researchers became convinced that the neurons exchange electrochemical impulses. That is, neurotransmitters in tissues - substances that transmit electrochemical impulses between neurons - successfully perform their function.
This is how the mouse hippocampus cells transplanted onto a polymer matrix look on the 10th day of development / Institute of Regenerative Medicine of the First Moscow State Medical University named after THEM. Sechenova, Institute of Photonic Technologies, Research Center Crystallography and Photonics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Petr Timashev.
Now the authors of the development intend to evaluate how the "prosthesis" is absorbed inside a living organism when the tissues have grown and rebuilt. In addition, biologists will have to study the reaction of the surrounding tissues to implantable structures and prevent the rejection of the matrix.
An artificial extracellular matrix is useful not only for the brain, but also for restoring the integrity of the tissues of the musculoskeletal system, epithelial lining, for example, in the urethra, gastrointestinal tract, as well as for skin lesions. For reconstructive surgery, scientists are developing analogues of bone tissue, vascular prostheses, plates based on the extracellular matrix.
