New method of brain stimulation created

CLEVELAND, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have developed a new wireless method of brain stimulation using light-activated semiconductor nanoparticles.

Case Western Reserve University Associate Professors Ben Strowbridge and Clemens Burda, who led the research, said that by using semiconductor nanoparticles as tiny solar cells, they can excite neurons in single cells or groups of cells with infrared light. That, they said, allows for a more controlled reaction and closely replicates the sophisticated focal patterns created by natural stimuli.

The scientists said electrodes used in previous nerve stimulations don't accurately recreate spatial patterns created by the stimuli and also have potential damaging side effects.

"There are many different things you'd want to stimulate neurons for -- injury, severed or damaged nerve to restore function -- and right now you have to put a wire in there, and then connect that to some control system. It is both very invasive and a difficult thing to do," said Strowbridge. "The long-term goal of this work is to develop a light-activated brain-machine interface that restores function following nerve or brain impairments."

The study that included Phillip Larimer, Todd Pressler and Yixin Zhao is reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie.