United States: A team of researchers from Rice University and the University of Texas Medical Branch has created a new way to diagnose and treat brain and nerve problems with very little surgery.  

This method could help doctors find and manage neurological disorders more safely. Their discoveries were shared in a science journal called Nature Biomedical Engineering. 

Whereas earlier methods for interfacing with nervous system are usually done again by making a hole at the head so that the researchers can put something directly into the brain, the current method which the researchers call endocisterna interfaces (ECI) enable the researchers to establish electrical recording and stimulation of neural substrates, including the brain and spinal cord through the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). 

As reported by Medicalxpress, “With ECI, we can target many structures in the brain and spinal cord at the same time and never have to open the skull, resulting in fewer risks associated with the standard surgical approach,” said Robinson, an electrical and computer engineer and a professor of bioengineering. 

The peripheral nervous system is enveloped by CSF through which ECI employs delivery of specific devices. That is why, through the puncture in the lumbar region, scientists can thread a thin catheter to the brain and spinal cord. 

In order to deploy the analysis to the hypothesis, the endocisternal space was described and the width of the subarachnoid in human patients using MRI was measured. The researchers then worked on experiments in large animal models; in this case, sheep to demonstrate the possibility of the new neural interface. 

In their experiments they concluded that the catheter electrodes could be effectively deployed and navigated to the desired ventricular spaces and brain surface activation for ‘electrode talking’. In the case of the magnetoelectric implant, the researchers were allowed to record other electrophysiologic signals including muscle activation and spinal cord potentials. 

With the help of these miniature magnetoelectric-powered bioelectronics a whole wireless system can be placed inside the body with a small percutaneous operation. The catheter electrodes described here can be easily manipulated from the subarachnoid space of spinal cord to the brain ventricles.