Lotti Fiorenza, Ranieri Federico, Vadalà Gianluca, Zollo Loredana, Di Pino Giovanni
NeXT: Neurophysiology and Neuroengineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Università Campus Bio-MedicoRome, Italy.
Research Unit of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Università Campus Bio-MedicoRome, Italy.
Front Neurosci. 2017 Sep 6;11:497. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00497. eCollection 2017.
Intraneural interfaces are stimulation/registration devices designed to couple the peripheral nervous system (PNS) with the environment. Over the last years, their use has increased in a wide range of applications, such as the control of a new generation of neural-interfaced prostheses. At present, the success of this technology is limited by an electrical impedance increase, due to an inflammatory response called foreign body reaction (FBR), which leads to the formation of a fibrotic tissue around the interface, eventually causing an inefficient transduction of the electrical signal. Based on recent developments in biomaterials and inflammatory/fibrotic pathologies, we explore and select the biological solutions that might be adopted in the neural interfaces FBR context: modifications of the interface surface, such as organic and synthetic coatings; the use of specific drugs or molecular biology tools to target the microenvironment around the interface; the development of bio-engineered-scaffold to reduce immune response and promote interface-tissue integration. By linking what we believe are the major crucial steps of the FBR process with related solutions, we point out the main issues that future research has to focus on: biocompatibility without losing signal conduction properties, good reproducible / models, drugs exhaustion and undesired side effects. The underlined pros and cons of proposed solutions show clearly the importance of a better understanding of all the molecular and cellular pathways involved and the need of a multi-target action based on a bio-engineered combination approach.
神经内接口是旨在将外周神经系统(PNS)与外界环境相连接的刺激/记录装置。在过去几年中,它们在广泛的应用中得到了越来越多的使用,例如控制新一代神经接口假肢。目前,这项技术的成功受到电阻抗增加的限制,这种增加是由一种称为异物反应(FBR)的炎症反应引起的,它会导致在接口周围形成纤维化组织,最终导致电信号的转导效率低下。基于生物材料以及炎症/纤维化病理学的最新进展,我们探索并选择了可能在神经接口FBR背景下采用的生物学解决方案:对接口表面进行修饰,如有机和合成涂层;使用特定药物或分子生物学工具来针对接口周围的微环境;开发生物工程支架以减少免疫反应并促进接口与组织的整合。通过将我们认为是FBR过程的主要关键步骤与相关解决方案联系起来,我们指出了未来研究必须关注的主要问题:在不丧失信号传导特性的情况下实现生物相容性、良好的可重复性/模型、药物耗尽以及不良副作用。所提出解决方案的优缺点清楚地表明了更好地理解所有涉及的分子和细胞途径的重要性,以及基于生物工程组合方法采取多靶点行动的必要性。