Novel Artificial Organic Neuron Effectively Mimics Natural Nerve Cells, Making It a Promising Technology for Medical Treatments

Researchers at Linköping University (LiU) in Sweden have constructed an artificial organic neuron that closely resembles the properties of biological nerve cells. As per SciTech Daily, the novel artificial neuron has the ability to activate normal nerves, making it a viable technique for future medical treatments.

The Laboratory for Organic Electronics (LOE) led by associate professor Simone Fabiano continues to develop increasingly functional artificial nerve cells. A team of scientists in 2022 demonstrated how an artificial organic neuron with two of the 20 features of real nerve cells could be integrated into a living carnivorous plant to control the opening and closing of its maw.

Engineering Artificial Organic Neurons

The LiU researchers who developed the new artificial nerve cell called "conductance-based organic electrochemical neuron" (c-OECN), which closely mimics 15 of the 20 neural features that characterize biological nerve cells, are the same researchers who created an artificial organic neuron last year.

But this time, they designed the new versions to function much more similar to natural nerve cells in their latest study. Simone Fabiano, the principal investigator of the group, said that one of the key challenges in developing artificial neurons that effectively mimic the real ones is its ability to incorporate ion modulation.

The c-OECNs employ ions to show several key features of real biological neurons, while traditional artificial neurons were made of silicon that emulates many neural features but fails to communicate through ions.

Nonetheless, Interesting Engineering reports that both the new and old versions of the artificial organic neurons were inspired by their 2018 research when the team first got together to construct complementary and printable organic electrochemical circuits.

That means the n-type conduct a negative charge, while the p-type polymers conduct a positive charge. As a result, they were able to print complementary organic electrochemical transistors.

The researchers then refined the organic transistors such that they could be manufactured in printing machines on thin plastic foil. The team said that thousands of transistors may be manufactured on a single plastic substrate. They printed transistors to simulate the neurons and synapses of the biological system in partnership with experts from Lund and Gothenburg.

Role of Ions in Novel Artificial Organic Neurons

In the new study, titled "Ion-tunable Antiambipolarity in Mixed Ion-Electron Conducting Polymers Enables Biorealistic Organic Electrochemical Neurons" published in Nature Materials, researchers detailed using ions to control the flow of electric current through the n-type conducting polymer to activate the device's voltage.

The press release reports that it is the same as biological nerve cell activating since the unique material allows the electric current to flow through the artificial nerve cell and decreased in an almost perfect bell-shaped curve like the activation and inactivation of salt ion channels in biology.

The team tried connecting new c-OECN neurons to the vagus nerve of mice and the results show that the artificial neuron could stimulate the nerves of the mice, which led to a 4.5% change in their heart rate.

The findings suggest that the device could pave the way for essential applications in medical treatment, particularly with organic semiconductors because of their advantageous biocompatibility and the key role that the vagus nerve plays. The next step now is to reduce the energy consumptions of the artificial neurons, which is still higher than the human nerve cells.

Check out more news and information on Neurons in Science Times.