Researchers have developed injectable nanoscale sensors to noninvasively track brain activity using light. They named their new technology Neurophotonic Solution-dispersible Wireless Activity Reporters for Massively Multiplexed Measurements (NeuroSWARM3). While the invention is still at an early stage of development, the approach could someday offer a better way to study the brain or assess people’s brain functioning without the need for implanted devices or surgery.
Ali Yanik, lab leader at UCSC’s Baskin School of Engineering (where the study took place), said:
NeuroSWARM3 can convert thoughts (brain signals) to remotely measurable signals for high precision brain-machine interfacing. It will enable people suffering from physical disabilities to effectively interact with the external world and control wearable exoskeleton technology to overcome the body’s limitations. It could also pick up early signatures of neural diseases.
NeuroSWARM3 offers a new way to monitor the brain’s electrical activity using a system-on-nanoparticle probe as small as a viral particle. Electrical signals are how neurons convey information to each other. Therefore, these signals are crucial to thought, movement, and memory.
Several methods for tracking the brain’s electrical activity exist. However, most require implanted devices or surgery that penetrates the skull to interface directly with neurons. NeuroSWARM3, on the other hand, only involves introducing engineered electro-plasmonic nanoparticles into the brain via injection into the bloodstream. The nanoparticles make their way up to the brain and convert the electrical signals into optical signals, enabling a medical professional to track brain activity with an optical detector from outside the body.
The nanoparticles are made of a 63-nanometers-wide silicon oxide core surrounded by a thin layer of electrochromically loaded poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and a 5-nanometer-thick gold coating. The coating allows them to transverse the blood-brain barrier – which is how they can be injected into the bloodstream or the cerebrospinal fluid.
The nanosensors are ultra-sensitive to local changes in the electric field.
In vitro prototypes of the NeuroSWARM3 generated a signal-to-noise ratio of over 1,000 in laboratory tests. That’s a sensitivity level suitable for detecting the electrical signal generated by a single neuron firing.
Yanik added:
We pioneered the use of electrochromic polymers (e.g., PEDOT: PSS) for optical (wireless) detection of electrophysiological signals. Electrochromic materials known to have optical properties that an external field can reversibly modulate are conventionally used for smart glass/mirror applications.
NeuroSWARM can be thought of nanoscale electrochromically loaded plasmonic (electro-plasmonic) antenna operated in reverse. Instead of applying a known voltage, its optical properties are modulated by the spiking electrogenic cells within its vicinity. Hence, NeuroSWARM3 provides a far-field bioelectric signal detection capability in a single nanoparticle device that packs wireless powering, electrophysiological signal detection and data broadcasting capabilities at nanoscale dimensions.
The nanoparticles function indefinitely without requiring wires or a power source.
Previous studies have explored a similar approach using specially designed quantum dots that respond to electrical fields. Yanik’s team compared the two technologies and found that NeuroSWARM3 generates an optical signal four times larger. Plus, quantum dots required one hundred times more probes and ten times higher light intensity to generate a comparable signal.
Yanik said:
We are just at the beginning stages of this novel technology, but I think we have a good foundation to build on. Our next goal is to start experiments in animals.
Yanik’s lab reported on the technology at the virtual OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress held 19-23 July 2021. Neil Hardy, a student in Yanik’s lab involved in the study, presented their findings on 20 July.
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August 06, 2021 at 02:40AM
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