Jarvis Sarah, Schultz Simon R
Centre for Neurotechnology and Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London London, UK.
Front Syst Neurosci. 2015 Nov 23;9:157. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2015.00157. eCollection 2015.
The ability to optically control neural activity opens up possibilities for the restoration of normal function following neurological disorders. The temporal precision, spatial resolution, and neuronal specificity that optogenetics offers is unequalled by other available methods, so will it be suitable for not only restoring but also extending brain function? As the first demonstrations of optically "implanted" novel memories emerge, we examine the suitability of optogenetics as a technique for extending neural function. While optogenetics is an effective tool for altering neural activity, the largest impediment for optogenetics in neural augmentation is our systems level understanding of brain function. Furthermore, a number of clinical limitations currently remain as substantial hurdles for the applications proposed. While neurotechnologies for treating brain disorders and interfacing with prosthetics have advanced rapidly in the past few years, partially addressing some of these critical problems, optogenetics is not yet suitable for use in humans. Instead we conclude that for the immediate future, optogenetics is the neurological equivalent of the 3D printer: its flexibility providing an ideal tool for testing and prototyping solutions for treating brain disorders and augmenting brain function.
光学控制神经活动的能力为神经疾病后恢复正常功能带来了可能性。光遗传学所具备的时间精度、空间分辨率和神经元特异性是其他现有方法无法比拟的，那么它是否不仅适用于恢复大脑功能，还能用于扩展大脑功能呢？随着光学“植入”新记忆的首次证明出现，我们探讨了光遗传学作为一种扩展神经功能技术的适用性。虽然光遗传学是改变神经活动的有效工具，但在神经增强方面，光遗传学面临的最大障碍是我们对大脑功能的系统层面理解。此外，目前一些临床限制仍然是所提出应用的重大障碍。尽管在过去几年中，用于治疗脑部疾病和与假肢接口的神经技术发展迅速，部分解决了其中一些关键问题，但光遗传学尚未适用于人类。相反，我们得出结论，在可预见的未来，光遗传学相当于神经学领域的3D打印机：其灵活性为测试和开发治疗脑部疾病及增强大脑功能的解决方案提供了理想工具。
