Brain implants that stay in the parenchyma for long periods of time can be attacked by the body’s immune system or form an encapsulation layer referred to as the “glial scar”. Researchers from Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Emory, and University of Pennsylvania have developed neural electrodes based on organic materials that should be considerably more biocompatible than similar currently existing devices.
The electrodes are covered by an extracellular matrix that exists around neuronal cells, which consists of laminin, fibronectin, and collagen proteins. This material is absolutely natural inside the brain and is not targeted by the immune system like other foreign materials. While the electrodes are covered by this matrix, they still successfully demonstrated the ability to read evoked electric signals in the brain triggered by rats’ whiskers being stimulated.
Study in Microsystems and Nanoengineering: Extracellular matrix-based intracortical microelectrodes: Toward a microfabricated neural interface based on natural materials…
Source: University of Georgia…