Rice University's tiny DOT implant stimulates the brain of a patient with a spine injury and movement disorder. (Image Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Neuromodulation helps treat pain, psychiatric, and movement disorders. Patients who suffer from a spinal cord injury have also used it to regain movement. Bioelectronic therapies that treat those ailments, including deep brain stimulation (DBS), are risky, have high surgical costs, and have long wait times. Rice University researchers created the Digitally programmable Over-brain Therapeutic (DOT), a tiny brain stimulator that may revolutionize neuromodulation. With a 9mm diameter, the battery-free DOT is so powerful that it uses the brain's dura to stimulate brain activity.
This implant doesn't have the same drawbacks as bioelectronic therapies because it's minimally invasive. In this case, surgeons implant it in the epidural space, a much simpler delivery method. Researchers then simulate the motor cortex — a process that reduces the chances of damage in that area. From that point onward, the patient can move their hand.
"In the future, we can place the implant above other parts of the brain, like the prefrontal cortex, where we expect to improve executive functioning in people with depression or other disorders," says study author Jacob Robinson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering at Rice.
The DOT features two magnetoelectric antennas, allowing it to receive wireless power from a magnetic field. Afterward, the device generates high currents for epidural brain stimulation. More impressively, the DOT is capable of digitally programmable stimulation output and centimeter-scale alignment tolerances, leading to neuromodulation precision.
The team tested this brain stimulator in human patients and a porcine model. Implanting it on a human patient's motor cortex triggered a response — causing hand contractions. Another experiment saw the device, implanted above the dura, activate brain tissue, allowing the patient to move their thumb. Pigs also had the DOT implant for 35 days, enabling consistent motor stimulation throughout those tests. Doing so proved the device is effective, reliable, and durable. And the procedure didn't take long to perform — only thirty minutes without touching the brain.
Additionally, the team applied an intermittent theta burst stimulation (TBS) paradigm. Once it provided 300 minutes of iTBS-like stimulation, the team discovered the stimulated brain areas had no serious pathology. This means the DOT is safe for TMS therapies without constantly visiting the clinic.
Use cases for this brain stimulator could involve psychiatric disorder treatment and movement restoration for those with spinal injuries. And this implant could be ideal for home use as well. "Back home, the patient would put on their hat or wearable to power and communicate with the implant, push 'go' on their iPhone or their smartwatch and then the electrical stimulation from that implant would activate a neuronal network inside the brain," says Robinson
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