Researchers have discovered how glial cells can be reprogrammed into neurons through epigenetic modifications, offering hope for treating neurological disorders. This reprogramming involves complex molecular mechanisms, including the transcription factor Neurogenin2 and the newly identified protein YingYang1, which opens chromatin for reprogramming. The study reveals how coordinated epigenome changes drive this process, potentially leading to new therapies for brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases.

A new study reveals how brain inflammation from infections and neurodegenerative diseases causes muscle weakness by releasing the IL-6 protein. Researchers found that IL-6 travels from the brain to muscles, reducing their energy production and function. This discovery could lead to treatments for muscle wasting in diseases like Alzheimer’s and long COVID. Blocking the IL-6 pathway may prevent muscle weakness associated with brain inflammation.

Astrocytes, star-shaped glial cells in the brain, play a crucial role in learning and memory by regulating synaptic plasticity. Researchers developed a biophysical model showing how astrocytes interact with nerve cells to facilitate rapid adaptation to new information. The study reveals that astrocyte dysfunction can significantly impair cognitive processes. This research bridges the gap between theoretical models of plasticity and experimental findings, offering new therapeutic possibilities targeting astrocytes to enhance cognitive functions.

Synchron’s adoption of artificial intelligence into its brain-computer interface is a step towards transhumanism, says the company’s brain-surgeon CEO Tom Oxley, but that’s not why they’re doing it.

The intricate and delicate anatomy of the brain poses significant challenges for the treatment of cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, precise local drug delivery in hard-to-reach brain regions remains an urgent medical need. Microrobots offer potential solutions; however, their functionality in the brain remains restricted by limited imaging capabilities and complications within blood vessels, such as high blood flows, osmotic pressures, and cellular responses.

During the six-month experimental period, the DBS system was implanted into animals to test various stimulation modes and charging functions, and completed a 3.0T MRI whole-body scan under the power-on state. No adverse reactions were induced during the experiment and the system functioned normally. The pathological examination results further showed that the system did not cause any damage to the animal's brain tissue and other tissues of the whole body, demonstrating good biocompatibility and stability. It also confirmed the good compatibility of the system NMR. The overall experiment confirms its long-term safety and stability in vivo, ensuring the safety and comfort of future clinical patient use.

New feature includes AI-driven emotion and language predictions for users in real-time, hands-free without the need for eye tracker or voice control. Personalized prompts enable users to text at conversational speed

Cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31), phalloidin and alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) have been widely applied to label the cerebral blood vessels in the past years. Although CD31 is mainly used as endothelial marker in determining the cerebral capillaries, it seems likely that its labeling efficiency is closely correlated with the antibodies from the polyclonal or monoclonal one, as well as the conditions of blood vessels.

A week after Neuralink's first brain chip patient appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the company has reportedly canceled the surgery for its second patient following the discovery of medical issues that led to the unsuitability of the patient entering the trial.

China delineó sus planes para producir una interfaz cerebro-computadora que compita con Neuralink a futuro. El gigante asiático establecerá un comité para desarrollar estándares para el uso de esta tecnología. El Gobierno echará mano de empresas, institutos de investigación y universidades con el fin de desarrollar una interfaz que pueda cerrar la brecha con Occidente.

China aims to be among the first countries to begin developing standards for the future of brain-computer interfaces with the establishment of a new technical committee by its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology specifically for this purpose.

China afirma que su diseño es escalable a varios tamaños de cerebros y que llevan dos años probándolo con roedores sin que se dañe. Estos implantes cerebro-ordenador se han convertido en una prioridad para la industria tecnológica china

Here, we report a wireless, fully integrated, soft sternal patch to capture PPG signals from the sternum, an anatomical region that exhibits a robust vasoconstrictive response. With healthy controls, the device is highly capable of detecting vasoconstriction induced endogenously and exogenously.

Recently, the first breakthrough transvascular brain-computer interface system of InPulse completed an animal experiment in Shanghai, during which the research team implanted a self-developed endovascular scaffolding electrode into an intracranial target vein of sheep and successfully recorded ECoG signals of a specific brain region through the electrode. The successful implementation of this animal experiment marks an important technological breakthrough and milestone achievement in the strategic layout of the brain science field.

Both CD200 and CD200R contain two Ig-like domains and interact through their NH2 terminal domains compatible with immunological synapse-like interactions occurring between myeloid cells and other CD200-expressing cells. The failure of the activating receptor to bind CD200 resides in subtle changes around the interface.

Using novel chimeras, we demonstrated that inhibiting CD14 in just myeloid cells can improve intracortical microelectrode performance in both the percentage of channels able to detect one or more neurons and in the number of units detected per working channel over a 16 week timespan. Results from these unique chimera models are important because they demonstrate that targeting CD14 in just the myeloid cells can be a promising approach to achieve long-term functionality of intracortical

Histology results show that 2 weeks after implantation, targeting CD14 results in higher neuronal density and decreased glial scar around the probe, whereas the thiol-ene probe results in more microglia/macrophage activation and greater blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption around the probe. Chronic histology demonstrate no differences in the inflammatory response at 16 weeks. Over acute time points, results also suggest immunomodulatory approaches such as targeting CD14 can be utilized to decrease inflammation to intracortical microelectrodes. The results obtained in the current study highlight the importance of not only probe material, but probe size, in regard to neuroinflammation.

Probe insertions generate inflammatory responses to acute tissue injuries and the introduction of foreign bodies, known as “foreign body response” (FBR). Chronic neuroprosthetic implants in rats at 16 weeks in contrast to 8 weeks have been shown to increase neuronal and dendritic loss, correlate with tau hyperphosphorylation seen in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies, and impede regeneration and recording of activity surrounding the device (McConnell et al., 2009). Assessments of acute proinflammatory events and chronic progression have largely centered on histological analyses of non-neuronal central nervous system (CNS) cells such as microglia, astrocytes and oligodendroglia, including their contribution to neuroinflammation and glial scars (Kozai et al., 2015; Prodanov and Delbeke, 2016).

Despite the rapid advances in using graphene as a neural interface material, it still remains unknown whether graphene can provoke neuroinflammation and whether the topographical features of graphene can trigger the neuroinflammation process. Thus, investigating microglia-mediated inflammation in graphene culturing systems is crucial to understand the effects of the topography on the material-evoked inflammatory responses given that microglia act as the first and main form of active immune defence in the CNS. If the graphene is interfaced with the CNS and triggers inflammatory responses, the major player should be the innate microglia, which represent the perfect cell model to investigate the inflammatory potential of graphene.

Detection of the physiological concentrations of DA (0.004–0.030 μM) is challenged by the presence of abundant interferents with overlapping oxidation potential. Extremely high temporal and spatial resolutions are desirable for recording neurotransmitter release into the synaptic cleft. Stability in the biological environment, controlling biofouling and host response, remains perhaps the most challenging problem to be solved for facilitating long-term in vivo measurements. When considering the requirements, it is critical to consider the purpose of the measurement, as short-term vs. long-term and dynamic vs. basal measurements affect what is expected from the sensor material.