Implant Allows Brain-damaged Rats to Recover Motor Skills

Scientists have developed a lightweight, battery-powered device that appears capable of repairing damaged pathways in the brain. The technology, produced by scientists at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University, may help those suffering from the damage left by stroke or head injuries. The microdevice they created monitors neurons firing in the brain, with the aim to restore communication patterns that have become disrupted by injury or disease. “We’re basically trying to reproduce the process that the brain uses during development, and that it tries to accomplish after injury, but with electronic components that will artificially bridge these areas,” senior author of the study, neurobiologist Randolph J. Nudo, PhD, said. To test the prosthesis, the microdevice was implanted into rats with damaged frontal cortexes. The findings were promising: After two weeks of microdevice-delivered brain stimulation, the rats were performing approximately at pre-injury levels. Click here to read the full article.