Alzheimer’s, first bionic neuron made

Made, also thanks to Italian researchers, an artificial neuron on a microchip that could beat Alzheimer’s and dementia. As for the coronary arteries, in fact, for the cerebral synapses the chip will act as a bypass, replacing the functions lost following the death of brain cells. The results achieved and the future prospects of the bionic neuron will be presented and discussed in an invitation-only lecture promoted by the Association for Research on Dementia (Ard Onlus) during the XVI Sin-Dem congress to be held in Florence from 25 to 27 November. “Neurons on chips – explains Claude Kanah, professor and researcher of computer science and cybernetics – are already a reality. Today microchips are squares of 5 square millimeters of surface, in the future they can be shrunk down to the diameter of a hair to be implanted in the human brain. To date these artificial neurons have been tested in vitro, on cultured neurons, and in vivo, on rats in which they have been implanted in critical areas such as the hippocampus, an area of ​​the brain essential for memory processes, the whose functionality fails in the case of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s “. “The experiments conducted so far – underlines the researcher – have shown that these silicon neurons (therefore artificial) behave like biological ones: that is, they respond to changes in the electrical currents in the brain, the means by which neurons ‘dialogue’, and can transmit to other neurons this information in the form of electrical impulses. ”The neurons on chips could therefore function as a ‘bridge’ that repairs an interrupted or damaged communication. The tests conducted so far on animals by Alain Nogaret of the University of Bath, Elisa Donati and Giacomo Indiveri of the University of Zurich and other researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Auckland show that these solid-state neurons (Nsn) are capable of behaving like biological neurons, responding in an almost completely identical manner to numerous and different stimuli. Furthermore, bionic neurons need very little power to function, just 140 nanoWatts or about one meter one-billionth of the power requirement of a standard microprocessor. “It means that they are simple systems to manage, because – observes Claudio Mariani, president of Ard Onlus, former professor of neurology at the Sacco hospital in Milan – they can exploit the small currents generated continuously and physiologically by biological neurons to function. so that the neurons on the chip are self-powered at low power, so as to adapt to physiological feedback in real time and to activate autonomously, as soon as they are inserted, exploiting the electrical potentials of the neuronal networks present. they work with an analog and therefore continuous technology, not binary like digital “. “All biological systems – recalls the expert – are based on continuous processes and having chosen this strategy means being able to mimic the behavior of a biological neuron with greater accuracy. Today we know that these neuromorphic processors can communicate with biological neurons because they ‘talk’ the same language, made up of electrical signals. The next step – he concludes – will be to try them, for example, on mice that, when genetically modified, develop Alzheimer’s, to understand if and how they can take over the functions of damaged neurons, allowing better memory performance ” . “Given the speed of advances in cyber sciences, which evolve by the square of time – predicts Leonardo Pantoni, director of the Sacco Complex Neurology Unit in Milan – it is plausible that within the next five to ten years we will have not only one neuron artificial functioning once grafted into the human brain, but even networks of artificial neurons that may be implanted for example in areas affected by Alzheimer’s amyloid plaques or other degenerative diseases, to work in parallel with the remaining circuits and help biological neurons to continue to perform their tasks “.