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Category: neuroscience – Page 188

Scientists from medical tech company Fluicell have partnered with clinical R&D firm Cellectricon and the Swedish Karolinska Institutet university to 3D bioprint neural cells into complex patterns.

Using the microfluidic printheads featured on Fluicell’s Biopixlar platform, the researchers were able to accurately arrange rat brain cells within 3D structures, without damaging their viability. The resulting cerebral tissues could be used to model the progress of neurological diseases, or to test the efficacy of related drugs.

“We’ve been using Biopixlar to develop protocols for the printing of different neuronal cells types, and we are very pleased with its performance,” said Mattias Karlsson, CEO of Cellectricon. “This exciting technology has the potential to open completely new avenues for in-vitro modeling of a wide range of central and PNS-related diseases.”

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Studies show that physical activity is actually a mental health exercise. One article that states just 15 minutes of walking, especially in the out-of-doors, can boost mood and reduce feelings of depression.

People seem to think more clearly after a brisk walk as well. It makes sense. As the heart pumps oxygen and nutrients to working muscles, the brain gets the same benefits.

Are there foods that might help our brains stay focused? In 2015, scientists reported on a diet that was found to help slow the gradual decline in cognitive function we may experience as we age. It was a hybrid of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) cutely named the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay).

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For millennia, the human brain has been a largely unexplored frontier. Relative to the whole of human history, studying, understanding, and influencing human thought and consciousness is a radically new endeavor. Only in the twenty-first century has science truly begun to progress far enough into the field of neuroscience for effective neurotechnologies to begin to take shape.

The implications of neurotechnologies for society are vast. From pharmaceuticals that improve quality of life, to brain imaging that revolutionizes our conception of human consciousness, neurotechnologies stand to change our understanding of ourselves and harness the power of the brain and nervous system’s myriad functions to promote human thriving.

What are neurotechnologies?

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This isn’t rocket science it’s neuroscience.

Ever since the dawn of antiquity, people have strived to improve their cognitive abilities. From the advent of the wheel to the development of artificial intelligence, technology has had a profound leverage on civilization. Cognitive enhancement or augmentation of brain functions has become a trending topic both in academic and public debates in improving physical and mental abilities. The last years have seen a plethora of suggestions for boosting cognitive functions and biochemical, physical, and behavioral strategies are being explored in the field of cognitive enhancement. Despite expansion of behavioral and biochemical approaches, various physical strategies are known to boost mental abilities in diseased and healthy individuals. Clinical applications of neuroscience technologies offer alternatives to pharmaceutical approaches and devices for diseases that have been fatal, so far. Importantly, the distinctive aspect of these technologies, which shapes their existing and anticipated participation in brain augmentations, is used to compare and contrast them. As a preview of the next two decades of progress in brain augmentation, this article presents a plausible estimation of the many neuroscience technologies, their virtues, demerits, and applications. The review also focuses on the ethical implications and challenges linked to modern neuroscientific technology. There are times when it looks as if ethics discussions are more concerned with the hypothetical than with the factual. We conclude by providing recommendations for potential future studies and development areas, taking into account future advancements in neuroscience innovation for brain enhancement, analyzing historical patterns, considering neuroethics and looking at other related forecasts.

Keywords: brain 2025, brain machine interface, deep brain stimulation, ethics, non-invasive and invasive brain stimulation.

Humans have striven to increase their mental capacities since ancient times. From symbolic language, writing and the printing press to mathematics, calculators and computers, mankind has devised and employed tools to record, store, and exchange thoughts and to enhance cognition. Revolutionary changes are occurring in the health care delivery system as a result of the accelerating speed of innovation and increased employment of technology to suit society’s evolving health care needs (Sullivan and Hagen, 2002). The aim of researchers working on cognitive enhancement is to understand the neurobiological and psychological mechanisms underlying cognitive capacities while theorists are rather interested in their social and ethical implications (Dresler et al., 2019; Oxley et al., 2021).

Continue reading “Brain augmentation and neuroscience technologies: current applications, challenges, ethics and future prospects” | >

Gold nanocrystals have shown promise in reversing neurological deficits in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Gold nanocrystals show promise to reverse neurological deficits in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

In the clinical trials, this nanomedicine exhibited the ability to solve energy-related disorders in patients’ brains.

These clinical studies were done by researchers from the UT Southwestern Medical Center, and the nanocrystals were administered to the patients regularly for 12 weeks.

Continue reading “Study: Gold nanocrystals may reverse Parkinson’s neurological deficit” | >

A head injury serious enough to affect brain function, such as that caused by a car accident or sudden fall, leads to changes in the brain beyond the site of impact, Tufts University School of Medicine scientists report in the journal Cerebral Cortex. In an animal model of traumatic brain injury, the researchers found that both hemispheres work together to forge new neural pathways in an attempt to replicate those that were lost.

“Even areas far away from the injury behaved differently immediately afterward,” says first author Samantha Bottom-Tanzer, an MD/Ph. D. student in neuroscience at the School of Medicine. “Traumatic brain injury research tends to focus on the region of injury, but this study makes a good case that the entire brain can be affected, and imaging in distal regions can provide valuable information.”

Bottom-Tanzer and colleagues are the first to use an combining fluorescent sensors of neuronal activity and electrodes to record how many parts of the brain talk to each other after a brain injury. The team tracked neural activity in mice for up to three weeks post-injury during periods of exercise and rest.

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In a study published in Advanced Materials, researchers have demonstrated that an innovative nano-vector (nanogel), which they developed, is able to deliver anti-inflammatory drugs in a targeted manner into glial cells actively involved in the evolution of spinal cord injury, a condition that leads to paraplegia or quadriplegia.

Treatments currently available to modulate the mediated by the component that controls the brain’s internal environment after acute spinal cord injury showed limited efficacy. This is also due to the lack of a therapeutic approach that can selectively act on microglial and astrocytic cells.

The nanovectors developed by Politecnico di Milano, called nanogels, consist of polymers that can bind to specific target molecules. In this case, the nanogels were designed to bind to , which are crucial in the inflammatory response following acute spinal cord injury. The collaboration between Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS and Politecnico di Milano showed that nanogels, loaded with a drug with anti-inflammatory action (rolipram), were able to convert glial cells from a damaging to a protective state, actively contributing to the recovery of injured tissue.

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