Scientists at Case Western developed a light-weight, battery powered device that can repair damaged pathways in the brain. Mechanical components were scaled to fit a rat-sized brain to test the neural prosthetic idea. The microdevice was implanted into damaged frontal cortexes in order to record signals in one area of the brain and then translate the signals into electrical impulses that stimulate other locations in the brain. The implant illustrated that artificial communication could help brain injured animals recover their motor skills. Rats were tested via their ability to reach a food pellet. Without the device turned on, the animals were unable to reach the pellet. Amazingly, when the neuromodulating device was on, all the animals were able to reach their pellets at a pre-injury performance level. The goal is to scale up the engineering of this product to be implantable in humans. This technology could help brain injury and stoke patients alike
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