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News Release 05-114
Wiring the Brain at the Nanoscale
Nanowires in blood vessels may help monitor, stimulate neurons in the brain
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Neuroscientist Rudolfo Llinas and his colleagues envision an entire array of nanowires being connected to a catheter tube, which could then be guided through the circulatory system to the brain. Once there, the nanowires would spread into a kind of bouquet, branching out into tinier and tinier blood vessels until they reached specific locations. Each nanowire would then be used to record the electrical activity of a single nerve cells, or small groups of nerve cells.
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation
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