As companies and universities invest an increasing amount of R&D hours and dollars in nanotechnology, speculation about the safety of the burgeoning technology for biomedical use has similarly been on the rise. In an effort to gain clearer insight as to how nanoparticles interact with the body, a team of Swedish scientists conducted experiments on rats to evaluate the effects of injected nanowires on their brains. Observing that there were only minor differences between the brains of the test and control groups after 12 weeks, the team has concluded that the development of nanoscale electrodes could be a biocompatible and viable option for future neurological applications.
The development of safe nanoscale electrodes could enable the advancement of neurological devices designed for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and chronic pain, for example. Researchers believe that such tiny electrodes could register and stimulate the most-minute parts of the brain for improved and targeted care. However, the impact of the nanoelectrodes on the body if they disconnected from their contact points has remained a mystery and point of concern. The researchers from Lund University (Lund, Sweden) joined forces to investigate this mystery by assessing the consequences of a potential worst-case scenario associated with the implantation of nanoscale electrodes.
To do so, the scientists injected rats’ brains with nanowires similar in size and shape to the registration nodes of proposed nanoelectrodes. The injected rats were then evaluated after 1, 6, and 12 weeks to study how their brains were reacting to the foreign nanowires.
“We studied two of the brain tissue’s support cells: On the one hand, microglia cells, whose job is to ‘tidy up’ junk and infectious compounds in the brain and, on the other hand, astrocytes, who contribute to the brain’s healing process,” notes Nils Danielsen, a researcher involved with the project. “The microglia ‘ate’ most of the nanowires. In weeks 6 and 12 we could see remains of them in the microglia cells.” Results indicated that permanent brain damage or injury was not sustained by injecting the nanowires. The researchers believe that this biocompatibility study could help to encourage progress in the development of nanoelectrodes.
Tags: Electrodes, Nanotechnology, nanowires, Neurological Devices
