Hippocampal prosthesis

A hippocampus prosthesis is a type of cognitive prosthesis (a prosthesis implanted into the nervous system in order to improve or replace the function of damaged brain tissue). Prosthetic devices replace normal function of a damaged body part; this can be simply a structural replacement (e.g. reconstructive surgery or glass eye) or a rudimentary, functional replacement (e.g. a pegleg or hook). However, prosthetics involving the brain have some special categories and requirements. "Input" prosthetics, such as retinal or cochlear implant, supply signals to the brain that the patient eventually learns to interpret as sight or sound. "Output" prosthetics use brain signals to drive a bionic arm, hand or computer device, and require considerable training during which the patient learns to generate the desired action via their thoughts. Both of these types of prosthetics rely on the plasticity of the brain to adapt to the requirement of the prosthesis, thus allowing the user to "learn" the use of his new body part. A cognitive or "brain-to-brain" prosthesis involves neither learned input nor output signals, but the native signals used normally by the area of the brain to be replaced (or supported). Thus, such a device must be able to fully replace the function of a small section of the nervous system - using that section′s normal mode of operation. In order to achieve this, developers require a deep understanding of the functioning of the nervous system. The scope of design must include a reliable mathematical model as well as the technology in order to properly manufacture and install a cognitive prosthesis. The primary goal of an artificial hippocampus is to provide a cure for Alzheimer's disease and other hippocampus—related problems. To do so, the prosthesis has to be able to receive information directly from the brain, analyze the information and give an appropriate output to the cerebral cortex; in other words, it must behave just like a natural hippocampus. At the same time, the artificial organ must be completely autonomous, since any exterior power source will greatly increase the risk of infection.

Hippocampus

Role

The hippocampus is part of the human limbic system, which interacts with the neocortex and other parts of the brain to produce emotions.^[1] As a part of the limbic system, the hippocampus plays its part in the formation of emotion in addition to its other roles, such as consolidation of new memories, navigation, and spatial orientation.^[2] The hippocampus is responsible for the formation of long term recognition memories. In other words, this is the part of the brain that allows us to associate a face with a name. Because of its close relationship with memory formation, damage to the hippocampus is closely related to Alzheimer's disease.

Anatomy

The hippocampus is a bilateral structure, situated under the neocortex. Each hippocampus is "composed of several different subsystem[s] that form a closed feedback loop, with input from the neocortex entering via the entorhinal cortex, propagating through the intrinsic subregions of the hippocampus and returning to the neocortex." In an electronic sense, the hippocampus is composed of a slice of parallel circuits.

Essential requirements

Biocompatibility

Since the prosthesis will be permanently implanted inside the brain, long term biocompatibility is required. Also we must also take into account the tendency for supporting braincells like astrocytes to encapsulate the implant. (This is a natural response for braincells, in order to protect neurons, thus impairing its function.)

Bio-mimetic

Being biomimetic means that the implant must be able to fulfill the properties a real biological neuron. To do so we must have an in–depth understanding of brain behavior to build a solid mathematical model to be based upon. The field of computational neuroscience has made headway in this endeavor.

First, we must take into account that, like most of biological processes, the behaviors of neurons are highly nonlinear and depend on many factors: input frequency patterns, etc. Also, a good model must take into account the fact that the expression of a single nerve cell is negligible, since the processes are carried by groups of neurons interacting in network.^[3] Once installed, the device must assume all (or at least most) of the function of the damaged hippocampus for a prolonged period of time. First, the artificial neurons must be able to work together in network just like real neurons. Then, they must be able, working and effective synaptics connections with the existing neurons of the brain; therefore a model for silicon/neurons interface will be required.

Size

The implant must be small enough to be implantable while minimizing collateral damage during and after the implantation.

Bidirectional communication

In order to fully assume the function of the damaged hippocampus, the prosthesis must be able to communicate with the existing tissue in a bidirectional manner. in other words, the implant must be able to receive information from the brain and give an appropriate and compressible feedback to the surrounding nerve cell.^[4]

Personalized

The structural and functional characteristic of the brain varies greatly between individuals; therefore any neural implant has to be specific to each individual, which requires a precise model of the hippocampus and the use of advanced brain imagery to determine individual variance.

Surgical requirement

Since the prosthesis will be installed inside the brain, the operation itself will be much like a tumor removal operation. Although collateral damage will be inevitable, the effect on the patient will be minimal.^[5]

Model

"In order to incorporate the nonlinear dynamics of biological neurons into neuron models to develop a prosthesis, it is first necessary to measure them accurately. We have developed and applied methods for quantifying the nonlinear dynamics of hippocampal neurons (Berger et al., 1988a,b, 1991, 1992, 1994; Dalal et al., 1997) using principles of nonlinear systems theory (Lee and Schetzen, 1965; Krausz, 1975; P. Z. Marmarelis and Marmarelis, 1978; Rugh, 1981; Sclabassi et al., 1988). In this approach, properties of neurons are assessed experimentally by applying a random interval train of electrical impulses as an input and electrophysiologically recording the evoked output of the target neuron during stimulation (figure 12.2A). The input train consists of a series of impulses (as many as 4064), with interimpulse intervals varying according to a Poisson process having a mean of 500 ms and a range of 0.2–5000 ms. Thus, the input is "broadband" and stimulates the neuron over most of its operating range; that is, the statistical properties of the random train are highly consistent with the known physiological properties of hippocampal neurons. Nonlinear response properties are expressed in terms of the relation between progressively higher-order temporal properties of a sequence of input events and the probability of neuronal output, and are modeled as the kernels of a functional power series."^[6]

Technology involved

Imaging

Technology such as EEG, MEG, fMRI and other type of imaging technology are essential to the installation of the implant, which requires a high precision in order to minimize collateral damage (since the hippocampus is situated inside the cortex), as well as the proper function of the device.

Silicon/neuron interface

A silicon/neuron interface will be needed for the proper interaction of the silicon neurons of the prosthesis and the biological neurons of the brain.

Neuron network processor

In the brain, tasks are carried out by groups of interconnected neuronal network rather than a single cell, which means that any prosthesis must be able to simulate this network behavior. To do so, we will need a high number and density of silicon neurons to produce an effective prosthesis; therefore, a High-density Hippocampal Neuron Network Processor will be required in order for the prosthesis to carry out the task of a biological hippocampus. In addition, a neuron/silicon interface will be essential to the bidirectional communication of the implanted prosthesis. The choice of material and the design must ensure long term viability and bio compatibility while ensuring the density and the specificity of the interconnections.^[7]

Power supply

Appropriate power supply is still a major issue for any neural implant. Because the prostheses are implanted inside the brain, long term biocompatibility aside, the power supply will require several specification. First, the power supply must be self recharging. Unlike other prostheses, infection is a much greater issue for neural implant, due to the sensitivity of the brain; therefore an external power source is not envisagable. Because the brain is also highly heat sensitive, the power and the device itself must not generate too much heat to avoid disrupting brain function.

Recent development

Theodore Berger and his colleagues at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles have developed a working hippocampal prosthesis that passed the live tissue test in 2004,.^[8] In 2011, in collaboration with Drs. Sam A. Deadwyler and Robert E. Hampson at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, a proof-of-concept hippocampal prosthesis was successfully tested in live rats.^[9] The prosthesis is in the form of multisite electrodes positioned to record from both the input and output "sides" of the damaged hippocampus, the input is gathered and analyzed by external computation chips, an appropriate feedback is computed, then used to stimulate the appropriate output pattern in the brain so that the prosthesis functions like a real hippocampus.^[10] In 2012, the team of Berger, Deadwyler and Hampson tested a further implementation in macaques prefrontal cortex,^[11] further developing the neural prosthesis technology. In 2013, Hampson et al. successfully tested a hippocampal prosthesis on non-human primates.^[12] While the device does not yet consist of a fully implantable "chip," these tests, from rat to monkey, demonstrate the effectiveness of the device as a neural prosthetic, and by 2015 the labs plan to begin human trials.^[13]

References

External links

• New Scientist