The nervous system is one that, no matter how much you discover, there is still so much more to uncover. Trauma to a system where nerves are not regenerated, patients with these injuries whether to the nerves directly or spinal cord are forced to endure a lifetime of disability without promise of ever regaining their facilities again. It is a daily hardship for 1 in 50 people living in the United States alone. The marriage of neuroscience and silicon valley has spawned more direct methods of modulating the nervous system. Neuromodulation and brain machine interfaces are two products of the marriage of these fields and is being used to give people the chance to reclaim their lives.
In the study, “Accelerating peripheral nerve regeneration using electrical stimulation of selected power
spectral densities” (Chen et al., 2021). Dr. Chen and researchers looked at peripheral nerve damage, which treatment typically looks like surgical procedures and extensive rehabilitation to reinforce their recovery. Direct electrical stimulation of nerves is known as neuromodulation which has a plethora of different methods to carry out the stimulation. This study found that direct and alternating stimulation increased nerve growth at an accelerated rate. The hindlimb nerves have been the most commonly used to explore this. Peripheral nerve damage depends on the specific nerve that was damaged but can look like, numbness, burning, twitching, impotence, reflex abnormalities and pain from light touch. Not only regeneration of peripheral nerves but even more importantly at an accelerated can keep costs low so that treatment can be a lot more accessible.
In association, Elon Musk’s company, Neuralink, is working similarly on nerve damage and spinal cord injury, however using brain machine interface. Brain machine interface uses artificial intelligence to transmit neuronal information to operate computers and mobile devices at an accelerated speed. In April 2021, the Neuralink team revealed a monkey on their blog, Monkey MindPong (Neuralink, 2021), that was able to move a computer cursor with neural activity using 1,024 previously mapped out electrodes. The team is working on mapping different patterns of neuronal activity to build this brain machine interface model that has the capability of not only predicting movement but also controlling movement in real time. Similar to neuromodulation, nerves are crucial for mapping brain activity and will be used to help those who have been paralyzed, regain their digital freedom and physical freedom as well. The Link will have the capability of reading brain signals to help implement stimulation in these muscles which overtime will lead to the patient regaining full limb capabilities.
References
Chen, Vincent C.-F., et al. “Accelerating Peripheral Nerve Regeneration Using Electrical Stimulation of Selected Power Spectral Densities.” Neural Regeneration Research, vol. 17, no. 4, Jan. 2021, p. 781., https://doi.org/10.4103/1673-5374.322458.
Studio, Play. “The First Fully-Implanted 1000+ Channel Brain-Machine Interface.” Neuralink, 9 Apr. 2021, https://neuralink.com/blog/monkey-mindpong/.
No comments:
Post a Comment