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Terminator-style electrical conductors that orchestrate brain activity grown in brains of fish and worms

Boundaries between biology and technology really are becoming blurred.

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By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Terminator-style electrical conductors that orchestrate brain activity have been grown in the brains of fish and worms.

Boundaries between biology and technology really are becoming blurred, like in the Terminator movies. Zebrafish were used for the study. (Pogrebnoj-Alexandroff via Wikimedia Commons)

It paves the way for future therapies for neurological disorders - including Alzheimer's and strokes.

The tiny electrodes are made out of an injectable viscous gel containing enzymes that act as 'assembly molecules.'

Scientists cultivated them in the tissue of zebrafish and medicinal leeches.

Lead author Dr. Xenofon Strakosas, a researcher at Lund University, said: "Contact with the body's substances changes the structure of the gel and makes it electrically conductive - which it isn't before injection.

"Depending on the tissue, we can also adjust the composition of the gel to get the electrical process going."

The zebrafish is very similar to humans on a genetic and cellular level - with a brain that functions like our own.

Will Terminator become a reality? Scientists cultivated electrodes in the tissue of zebrafish and medicinal leeches.
(Gleb K via Wikimedia Commons)

It is also small and transparent - opening a window into the organ's mysteries.

The breakthrough sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie - inspired by the rogue cop cyborg played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies.

The half-man-half-machine is a microprocessor-controlled, fully armored robot - with living human flesh, skin, hair and blood.

Boundaries between biology and technology really are becoming blurred, say the Swedish team.

via GIPHY

The electrodes were grown in living tissue using the body’s molecules as triggers.

The result is a major step toward the formation of fully integrated electronic circuits in organisms - including humans.

Co-author Professor Magnus Berggren, of Linkoping University, said: "For several decades, we have tried to create electronics that mimic biology.

"Now we let biology create the electronics for us."

Linking electronics to tissue sheds light on complex biological functions.

Developing future interfaces between man and machine will help combat diseases in the brain.

Conventional bioelectronics used in the semiconductor industry have a fixed and static design that is almost impossible to combine with living biological signal systems.

The device described in the journal Science bridges the gap.

The body's natural molecules are enough to trigger the formation of electrodes.

There is no need for genetic modification or external signals, such as light or electrical energy, which has been necessary for previous experiments.

The world first opens the door to a new paradigm in bioelectronics. It previously took implanted physical objects to start electronic processes in the body.

The injection of a gel will be enough in the future. The method can target specific nerves - offering hope of fabricating fully integrated electronic circuits in people.

In experiments electrodes formed in the brain, heart and tail fins of zebrafish and around the nervous tissue of medicinal leeches.

The animals were not harmed by the injected gel and were otherwise not affected. One of the many challenges was to take the immune system into account.

Co-author Prof Roger Olsson, also from Lund, said: "By making smart changes to the chemistry, we were able to develop electrodes that were accepted by the brain tissue and immune system.

"The zebrafish is an excellent model for the study of organic electrodes in brains."

He was originally inspired by an electronic rose developed by Linkoping in 2015.

An important difference between plants and animals is cell structure. Those of the former have rigid walls which allow for the formation of electrodes.

Animal cells are more like soft mass. Creating a gel with enough structure and the right combination of substances to form electrodes in such surroundings was a challenge that took many years to solve.

Co-lead author Hanne Biesmans, a Ph.D. student at Lund added: "Our results open up for completely new ways of thinking about biology and electronics.

"We still have a range of problems to solve, but this study is a good starting point for future research."

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