(ORDO NEWS) — Biologists and chemists from Sweden have demonstrated a gel containing proteins to form flexible, electrically conductive structures.
The assembly process starts after the injection of such a cocktail into the body, and the electrodes “grow” already inside the living tissue.
Safely integrating electronics with the body is the key to many important biological studies, new treatments for disease, and new generations of brain-machine interfaces.
However, this is not an easy task, especially when using modern microelectronics, which relies on rigid structures of silicon and metal conductors. It is extremely difficult to connect them with mobile living tissue.
Therefore, scientists from the Swedish Linköping University took a different path and turned to the use of flexible, biocompatible conductive materials.
Such electrodes are not prefabricated to be implanted into the body.
Instead, they are injected as a gel that contains all the right ingredients, and once in the right tissue, they assemble into working conductors. The technology was successfully tested on worms and fish.
The gel prepared by scientists contains proteins that can assemble into structures that conduct electricity.
In addition, it contains oxidase enzymes that convert sugars (glucose or lactose) into hydrogen peroxide, as well as percosidase, which utilizes this peroxide and acts as a catalyst for the self-assembly of polymer electrodes.
Thus, the process does not require the introduction of additional chemicals or the supply of a charge: it starts in the presence of sugars, which are found in any living organism.
Finished structures turn blue, allowing you to track their formation.
Scientists have shown the efficiency of such a gel by injecting it into different parts of the body of zebrafish – in the heart, brain and tail fin.
Reacting to the sugars present in living tissue, the proteins quickly formed conductive structures that were clearly visible inside the translucent body.
At the same time, the authors did not notice any side effects and even signs that the procedure was painful.
Additional experiments were carried out on leeches, which, after the same procedure, were dissected in order to apply a charge to the protein electrodes.
The work showed that they effectively conduct current and can stimulate the muscles of the worms, causing them to contract.
Now the authors have to demonstrate that such conductors remain stable for a sufficiently long time and do not lose their properties.
In addition, the researchers plan to modify the composition of the gel so that protein self-assembly is triggered not just by sugars, but by more tissue-specific markers.
Thanks to this, the conductors will be able to form exactly in the right part of the body.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.