Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, United States; The Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University, United States; Initiative for Neural Science, Disease, and Engineering (INSciDE), Tufts University, United States.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, United States.
Neurosci Lett. 2021 Apr 17;750:135799. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135799. Epub 2021 Mar 3.
Though neuroscientists have historically relied upon measurement of established nervous systems, contemporary advances in bioengineering have made it possible to design and build artificial neural tissues with which to investigate normative and diseased states [1-5] however, their potential to display features of learning and memory remains unexplored. Here, we demonstrate response patterns characteristic of habituation, a form of non-associative learning, in 3D bioengineered neural tissues exposed to repetitive injections of current to elicit evoked-potentials (EPs). A return of the evoked response following rest indicated learning was transient and partially reversible. Applying patterned current as massed or distributed pulse trains induced differential expression of immediate early genes (IEG) that are known to facilitate synaptic plasticity and participate in memory formation [6,7]. Our findings represent the first demonstration of a learning response in a bioengineered neural tissue in vitro.
尽管神经科学家在历史上一直依赖于已建立的神经系统的测量，但当代生物工程的进步使得设计和构建人工神经网络组织成为可能，以便研究正常和患病状态[1-5]。然而，它们在显示学习和记忆特征方面的潜力仍未被探索。在这里，我们在暴露于重复电流注射以引发诱发电位（EP）的 3D 生物工程神经组织中展示了习惯化的特征反应模式，习惯化是一种非联想学习形式。在休息后，诱发反应的恢复表明学习是短暂的和部分可逆的。施加模式电流作为密集或分布式脉冲序列诱导了已知促进突触可塑性和参与记忆形成的即时早期基因（IEG）的差异表达[6,7]。我们的发现代表了在体外生物工程神经组织中首次展示学习反应。
