Researchers have conquered the
monumental task of manufacturing scalable nanoprobe arrays small enough to
record the inner workings of human cardiac cells and primary neurons. The
ability to read electrical activities from cells is the foundation of many
biomedical procedures, such as brain activity mapping and neural prosthetics.
Developing new tools for intracellular electrophysiology that push the limits of what is physically
possible (spatiotemporal resolution) while reducing invasiveness could provide
a deeper understanding of electrogenic cells and their networks in tissues, as
well as new directions for human-machine interfaces.
Ultra-small, flexible, nanowire
probes could be a very powerful tool as they can measure intracellular signals
with amplitudes comparable with those measured with patch clamp techniques;
with the advantage of the device being scalable, it causes less discomfort and
no fatal damage to the cell (cytosol dilation). Through this work, we found
clear evidence for how both size and curvature affect device internalisation
and intracellular recording signal. In the longer term, we see these probe
developments adding to our capabilities that ultimately drive advanced
high-resolution brain-machine interfaces and perhaps eventually bringing
cyborgs to reality.
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