Measuring the concentrations of neurotransmitters in cerebrospinal fluid is one way to study brain diseases and the efficacy of treatment strategies in vivo. However, traditional probes used to collect cerebrospinal fluid in these experiments are relatively large and can cause damage to brain tissue; additionally, these probes lack the ability to measure neurotransmitters and electrical brain activity simultaneously. A new brain chip developed by a research team at the Brain Science Institute of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), could overcome many of the limitations of conventional monitoring tools with a subminiature design and multifunctional capabilities for less destructive and more comprehensive analysis in live animal models.
The new chip is about ⅛ the size of current commercially available cerebrospinal fluid extraction devices and incorporates microfluidics and microeletrodes to serve three main functions: neurotransmitter analysis, pharmaceutical injection and electrical activity monitoring. The smaller size minimizes damage caused to brain tissue during implantation of the device, and extracts cerebrospinal fluid at low pressure to minimize channel blockages from prolonged use. The use of microelectrodes allows neurotransmitter and electrical brain signal data to be collected simultaneously for correlation analysis.
The researchers successfully tested their multifunctional probe in the brain of a living mouse, injecting a substance that controls neurological activity and examining changes in neurotransmitter and electrical signaling over time to verify the substance’s effects. These tests showed the device could potentially be used to test the efficacy of brain disease therapies, the researchers said. This study was published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
“The new brain chip is small, yet it can perform various functions simultaneously,” said Il-Joo Cho, who led the research. “It will be useful in minimizing brain damage and studying the cause and treatment for brain diseases. We expect that the system we developed will be applied to various brain disease model animals and contribute to developing treatment for brain diseases.”
Photo: Optical picture of the packaged bimodal MEMS neural probe. Credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)