The robot can automatically detect the internal operation of living brain cells

According to reports recently organized by the Physicists Organization Network, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a method to use robotic manipulation to automatically discover and record information on neurons in living brains, that is, using a whole cell patch clamp to brake a tiny The hollow glass needles were opened on the membrane of nerve cells to record their internal electrical activity. The research results were published in the May 6 issue of the "Natural Methods."

This way of deepening the inner workings of neurons in the brain can provide a wealth of useful information, such as patterns of electrical activity, internal cell conditions, and even profiles where the genes are closed at a certain moment. However, it is very difficult to achieve this entrance. At present, only a few laboratories in the world are trying. This latest method of automatically discovering and recording neuron information in the living brain is expected to change the research status in this field. The researchers demonstrated that under the guidance of a computer program for cell detection, the automated device has better accuracy and speed in recognizing and recording neuronal information in the brains of living mice compared to manual methods.

The use of new automated devices eliminates the need for months of targeted and long-term search for living cell activity. Using this technology, scientists can divide thousands of cells in the brain into different types, and draw connections between them, and find diseased cells from normal cells.

The researchers said that this method will be particularly useful in the study of brain diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, autism and epilepsy. It has been difficult for scientists to describe the integration of one cell in these diseases with a molecule that has an electroactive circuit and properties. Depicting how the disease changes specific cell molecules in the living brain will better find the target of the drug.

If artificial instruments are used to operate such precision instruments, it will take 4 months of training time, and ultimately may not be very accurate. Therefore, the researchers will hand over this task to the robot to operate, and its mechanical arm is guided by the computer program. Researchers say that the use of robots to study living animals in neuroscience is just the beginning. Robots such as this may be used to inject drugs into the brain, or to provide gene therapy vectors, hoping that new methods are also available. It can motivate neurologists to pursue automation of various types of robots, for example in the field of optogenetics, using light to specifically interfere with neural circuits and determine the causal role of neurons in brain function. (Hua Ling)