A group of US researchers believe that a microchip that will help create memories in the damaged brain could be implanted in a volunteer's brain over the next two years.
Scientists from the University of Southern California, Wake Forest University and others studied the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays an important role in the formation of long-term memory (about ten years).
They believe years of research aimed at understanding how memories are formed will serve as the basis for the production of an implant that can help people with localized brain injury, victims of mechanical damage and patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers have already conducted a series of experiments on rats and monkeys that have proven that brain messages can be reproduced by electrical signals from a silicon chip. A group of scientists, inspired by the results of their discoveries, believes that devices that can reproduce memory processes will become available to patients in the next 5-10 years.
Professor Ted Berger, a neurologist and biomedical engineer at the University of Southern California, told reporters: “We do not insert individual memories back into the brain. Thanks to the implant, the ability to generate memories appears. I never thought that I would see something like this in my life. I won't be able to benefit from this, but my children will be able to."
Rob Hampson, professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University, added: “We will keep moving forward. With each passing day, these implants are becoming more real."
The researchers focused on the hippocampus, which is located deep within the brain and consolidates information from short-term memory into long-term memory. They hope that the future implant will be able to copy messages from neurons in the brain and reproduce them using signals from an electrical chip.
Hampson added: "We are now maintaining and amplifying the signal in the hippocampus, but we are moving forward with the confidence that if we can study this part of the brain well enough and copy its functions, we can do without the hippocampus."
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Researchers hope the device will help patients whose brain activity has been impaired due to localized trauma or stroke. The ultimate goal is to treat people with Alzheimer's disease, but this will require more research as the disease affects several areas of the brain.