Materials for neural interfaces
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ural interfaces Ravi V. Bellamkonda, S. Balakrishna Pai and Philippe Renaud MRS Bulletin / Volume 37 / Issue 06 / June 2012, pp 557 561 Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012 Published online by Cambridge University Press: June 2012 DOI: 10.1557/mrs.2012.122
Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0883769412001224 How to cite this article: Ravi V. Bellamkonda, S. Balakrishna Pai and Philippe Renaud (2012). Materials for neural interfaces. MRS Bulletin,37, pp 557561 doi:10.1557/mrs.2012.122 Request Permissions : Click here
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Materials for neural interfaces Ravi V. Bellamkonda, S. Balakrishna Pai, and Philippe Renaud, Guest Editors The treatment of disorders of the nervous system poses a major clinical challenge. Development of neuromodulation (i.e., interfacing electronics to nervous tissue to modulate its function) has provided patients with neuronal-related deficits a new tool to regain lost function. Even though, in principle, electrical stimulation and recording by interfacing technology is simple and straightforward, each presents different challenges. In stimulation, the challenge lies in targeting the effects of stimulation on precise brain regions, as each region specializes for particular functions on a millimeter scale. In practice, our experience with deep brain stimulation for treating Parkinson’s disease reveals that stimulation of larger regions of the brain can be relatively well tolerated. However, the task of fabricating an ideal electrode that performs reliably for long periods of time has been daunting. The primary obstacle in successful interfacing comes from integration of electrodes (“foreign” material) into the nervous system (biological material). The second tier of complexity is added by the need for the electrodes to “sense” signals emanating from individual neurons, an estimated microenvironment of 10 to 20 microns in diameter. Materials design and technology impact electrode design—with their size, shape, mechanical properties, and composition all being actively optimized to enable chronic, stable recordings of neural activity. The articles in this issue discuss designing interfacing technology to “listen to the nervous system” from a materials perspective. These include identification of materials with a potential for in vivo development, electrodes with various material types, including natural nanocomposites, and optical neural interfacing.
Introduction The human nervous system is arguably the ultimate control system that governs all human functions—from the “automatic” impulse for us to breathe, to our ability to sense the world outside, to our ability to manipulate the world outside through actuation or movement. In fact, the human nervous system determines our emotional well-being as well as our sense of self. The substrate that enables this amazing range of tasks includes the cells of the nervous system and their connections to each other. Essentially, our ne
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