Being studied in vitro and in vivo, it could constitute a sort of “bypass” to restore at least part of the communications between brain cells that have been interrupted in the event of neurodegenerative diseases
Our brain contains one hundred billion neurons, each in connection with ten thousand others: an enormous network that sometimes “tears”, for example in the case of neurodegenerative diseases and dementias. In the future, the “holes” in the brain network could be repaired by artificial neurons on microchips: they already exist and Italian researchers have also developed them, who are still studying them in vitro and on mice. The latest results of the research were discussed in Florence at the SIN-DEM congress (autonomous association belonging to the Italian Society of Neurology for Dementias), during a lecture promoted byAssociation for Research on Dementia Onlus.
Artificial neurons
The connections between neurons are continually reworked because some cells die continuously during adult life: the plasticity of the brain ensures that these “holes” are filled by the remaining cells, but when the damage becomes extensive, as in the case of neurodegenerative diseases and of dementia, the brain plasticity it may not be enough and symptoms appear. Artificial neurons on microchips could function as “bridges” to repair communications between cells jeopardized by “holes” in the neuronal network and are already a reality: today the so-called “solid state neurons” they are 5 mm2 squares and the experiments conducted so far, in which Elisa Donati and Giacomo Indiveri of the University of Zurich have also participated, have shown that they can behave like biological neurons, responding to changes in brain electrical currents and relaying information to other neurons. They also need to very little power to run, just 140 nanoWatts, or about one billionth of the power requirement of a standard microprocessor.
In the future
«It means that they are simple systems to manage, because they can exploit the small currents generated continuously and physiologically by biological neurons to work », explains Claudio Mariani, president of ARD Onlus and former professor of neurology at the Sacco Hospital in Milan. «The goal will be to ensure that the neurons on the chip are self-powered at low power, so as to adapt to physiological feedback in real time and to activate autonomously, as soon as they are inserted, by exploiting the electrical potentials of the neuronal networks present. Furthermore, these are systems that work with an analog and therefore continuous technology, not binary like digital: all biological systems are based on continuous processes and having chosen this strategy means being able to mimic the behavior of a biological neuron with greater accuracy. Today we know that these processors can communicate with biological neurons because they “speak” the same language, made up of electrical signals; the next step will be to test them, for example, on mice that, when genetically modified, develop Alzheimer’s, to understand if and how they can take over the functions of damaged neurons, allowing better memory performances ». In the future, the neurons on microchips may be shrunk down to the diameter of a hair to be implanted in the human brain: it is the dream of researchers, who are working to make it come true in the coming years. “We hope to have not only a functioning artificial neuron once grafted into the brain”, concludes Leonardo Pantoni, vice president of ARD Onlus, director of the Neurology Complex Unit of the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan and Full Professor of Neurology at the University of Milan. of Milan, “but also networks of artificial neurons that can be implanted, for example, in areas affected by the amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s or other degenerative diseases, to work in parallel with the remaining circuits and help biological neurons to continue to carry out their tasks”.
November 23, 2021 (change November 23, 2021 | 13:03)
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