Electron Conductive and Transparent Hydrogels for Recording Brain Neural Signals and Neuromodulation. Issue 9 (3rd January 2023) - Liang, Quanduo
Abstract: Recording brain neural signals and optogenetic neuromodulations open frontiers in decoding brain neural information and neurodegenerative disease therapeutics. Conventional implantable probes suffer from modulus mismatch with biological tissues and an irreconcilable tradeoff between transparency and electron conductivity. Herein, a strategy is proposed to address these tradeoffs, which generates conductive and transparent hydrogels with polypyrrole‐decorated microgels as cross‐linkers. The optical transparency of the electrodes can be attributed to the special structures that allow light waves to bypass the microgel particles and minimize their interaction. Demonstrated by probing the hippocampus of rat brains, the biomimetic electrode shows a prolonged capacity for simultaneous optogenetic neuromodulation and recording of brain neural signals. More importantly, an intriguing brain–machine interaction is realized, which involves signal input to the brain, brain neural signal generation, and controlling limb behaviors. This breakthrough work represents a significant scientific advancement toward decoding brain neural information and developing neurodegenerative disease therapies. Abstract : A strategy is proposed to break the current bottleneck of implantable materials, which demonstrate a suit of desirable performances including matched modulus, good transparency, and high conductivity. The hydrogel electrode is successfully utilized for optogenetic neuromodulation and simultaneously recording the brain's neural signals, establishing the correlation between brain neural signals and corresponding limb behavior.