Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (Sep 2022)

Soft integration of a neural cells network and bionic interfaces

  • Jixiang Zhang,
  • Ting Wang,
  • Ting Wang,
  • Yixin Zhang,
  • Pengyu Lu,
  • Neng Shi,
  • Weiran Zhu,
  • Chenglong Cai,
  • Chenglong Cai,
  • Nongyue He

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.950235
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Both glial cells and neurons can be considered basic computational units in neural networks, and the brain–computer interface (BCI) can play a role in awakening the latency portion and being sensitive to positive feedback through learning. However, high-quality information gained from BCI requires invasive approaches such as microelectrodes implanted under the endocranium. As a hard foreign object in the aqueous microenvironment, the soft cerebral cortex’s chronic inflammation state and scar tissue appear subsequently. To avoid the obvious defects caused by hard electrodes, this review focuses on the bioinspired neural interface, guiding and optimizing the implant system for better biocompatibility and accuracy. At the same time, the bionic techniques of signal reception and transmission interfaces are summarized and the structural units with functions similar to nerve cells are introduced. Multiple electrical and electromagnetic transmissions, regulating the secretion of neuromodulators or neurotransmitters via nanofluidic channels, have been flexibly applied. The accurate regulation of neural networks from the nanoscale to the cellular reconstruction of protein pathways will make BCI the extension of the brain.

Keywords