Brain Prosthesis Summary

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An article in Medical News Today by Marie Ellis sheds some light on a novel brain prosthesis that is currently being tested in human patients. The implant, developed by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, sits adjacent to and has electrodes connected to the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning. The electrical signals from the hippocampus were sent to the researchers to decipher how signals from one hippocampal region were translated by the second. Using this data, they were then able to mimic a signal’s conversion from short-term memory to long-term memory and predict how the signals would be translated with 90% accuracy! For …show more content…

When integration and processing in the brain are affected, serious behavioral, physical and mental consequences can ensue despite the detection of stimuli and response sites being unaltered. For example, when someone has a stroke, a blood vessel in the brain is blocked and oxygen cannot be delivered so neural tissue is damaged. The protein tangles and plaques that surround neurons in the brain that cause the characteristic memory loss, diminished or slowed language and thinking skills as well as negatively impacted behavioral skills of the progressively degenerative neurological disorder of Alzheimer’s. In PET scans of those with Alzheimer’s, reduced brain activity, especially in the very center where the hippocampus and Broca and Wernicke areas (language comprehension and speaking abilities respectively) are located, is evident. CT scans show brain atrophy (reduced brain mass) in patients with Alzheimers and reduced hippocampus size and/or its parts are eliminated meaning the memories cannot be fully transmitted to the final area of the hippocampus where they turn into long-term memories. Using the implant, the damaged or eliminated areas can simply be skipped over. Alzheimer’s Disease is also caused by reduced acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter we study in class that is responsible for muscle contractions. As mentioned in the article, the implant would not slow down the progression of the disorder. This means that just because an Alzheimer’s patient has an improved ability to create memories, does not mean that they will also have improved speaking, language comprehension and tactile abilities nor will their behavior go back to how it used to

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