Blindness in AMD patients: Study says brain can integrate artificial and natural vision correctly

A new research  has found that the brain knows how to integrate natural and artificial vision while maintaining information processing that is important for the vision which can help in better treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The study mentioned that AMD in the West causes blindness in millions of people. In the Western world, it is the most common cause of serious vision loss for those aged 50 and over and is growing with age. Although no remedy is available for AMD, recent significant advances in artificial retina implants may contribute to effective treatment.

Locate inside the eye, the retina contains light receptors ( photo-receptors) that absorb light. Information is then processed and transmitted to the brain.

The macula, the central area of the retina, processes most of the information that reaches the brain from the eye. enabling one to see while reading and driving, facial recognition, and any other activity that required accurate vision.

In the peripheral retina, the area of the retina outside the macula that assist mainly with spatial judgement, vision is 10-20 times less precise.

in AMD, precise vision is impaired due to damage to the centre of the retina, while peripheral vision remains normal.

When there is damage to the photo-receptor layers in the retina, an artificial retina may be implanted. Activating these electrodes results in electrical stimulation of the remaining retina cells and results in the visual restoration, albeit partially.

AMD patients implanted with an artificial retina possess a combination of artificial central vision and normal peripheral vision. This combination of artificial and natural vision is important to study in order to understand how to help the blind.

One of the key issues here is whether the brain can integrate artificial and natural vision correctly.
One of the researchers has used a unique projection system that stimulated either natural vision, artistic vision or a combination of natural and artificial vision and at the same time records cortical responses in rodents implanted with a subretinal implant.

The implant is made up of dozens of small solar cells and electrodes developed at Standford Uni.

These ground breaking findings have implications on better vision restore for retinal prosthetic implanted in AMD patients and help the theory of incorporation of prosthetic and natural vision into the brain.
The findings can also have an impact on future brain-machine interface systems where artificial and natural procedures co-exist, said the Prof.

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Neurons integrate better with muscle grown on grooved platforms

Growing muscle tissue on grooved platforms helps neurons more effectively integrate with the muscle, a requirement for engineering muscle in the lab that responds and functions like muscle in the body, researchers found in a new study. 

Such engineered muscle with integrated nerves has applications in reconstructive and rehabilitative medicine, as well as for engineered biological machines or robots.

"With this approach, we can engineer muscle outside of the body so it can respond like muscle in the body," said study leader, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. 

"Usually people just culture muscle cells without neurons. It's quite straightforward to do that. But it's very difficult for neurons to integrate and communicate with the muscle so that it's functional and responsive."


The researchers' goal is to create muscle that responds to neurotransmitters as it responds in the body, rather than relying on added electrical or chemical stimulation. While other groups have demonstrated engineered muscle with some nerve integration, called innervation, the function and response of the muscle has been limited, the researchers say.

The Illinois group altered the surface on which they incubated the muscle to see if topology affected muscle growth, function or innervation. The researchers grew mouse muscle tissue on increasingly grooved surfaces, then seeded the muscle with stem cells primed to become neurons and watched how the nerves formed and integrated with the muscle.

They found that on a flat surface, the muscle tissue lacked organization and nerves did not penetrate efficiently. However, the more grooved the surface, the more ordered the muscle fibers grew and the more successfully the neurons integrated with the muscle, said the first author of the study.

"If you think about the physiological properties of muscle, it's very aligned. There are a lot of fibers bundled together. The grooved substrate provides a similar environment to our natural skeletal muscle, so it can help the cells to align and form bundles like a real muscle," the author said. "These aligned bundles also guide the neurons as they extend along and into the muscle tissue. It gives them a path to grow."

The researchers then tested the innervated muscle's response to two neurotransmitters, natural chemicals that signal nerve cells—one that stimulates activity and one that inhibits it. The tissues grown on the grooved surfaces were the most responsive.

"If the muscle and neurons are functioning together, the muscles should contract when exposed to the chemical that stimulates neurons, and stop when exposed to the inhibitors. Ours did that," the author said. "We are the first ones to demonstrate that our muscle is functional and responding to these chemicals much better than others."

The researchers plan to refine their grooved substrates in experiments with human muscle and nerve cells. They hope to develop their approach as a platform for drug screening and for tissue engineering for patients with muscle damage or injury.

"When there is damage to the muscle, there often is a gap in the nerves as well. This can cause the muscle to become weaker and smaller. So for injury treatment, it's important to let the neurons re-innervate the muscle," the author said. "We could use a patient's own cells to engineer muscle samples to screen which drugs could enhance the reintroduction of neurons to the muscle. We could test a variety of growth factors or proteins and see which would be good for regeneration of the muscle with the neurons together."

The researchers also plan to use the innervated muscle to power miniature biological machines, or bio-bots. The group has developed bio-bots powered by muscle tissue that responds to electricity and light, and integration with neurons would provide the machines with sensing capability that could provide direction—for example, moving toward an environmental toxin to neutralize it, the Prof. said.

"Our goal is to build a little neuronal circuit that could sense chemical concentration and translate that to motion," the Prof. said. 

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Musical training may change your brain !

Intense musical training triggers new processes within the brain which can impact creativity, cognition and learning, new research has found.

The studies show that extensive musical training affects the structure and function of different brain regions, how those regions communicate during the creation of music, and how the brain interprets and integrates sensory information.

The findings, presented at Neuroscience 2013,  suggest potential new roles for musical training including fostering plasticity in the brain, an alternative tool in education, and treating a range of learning disabilities.

According to one study, long-term high level musical training has a broader impact than previously thought.

Researchers found that musicians have an enhanced ability to integrate sensory information from hearing, touch, and sight.

Another study found that the age at which musical training begins affects brain anatomy as an adult; beginning training before the age of seven has the greatest impact.

In a third study, researchers found that brain circuits involved in musical improvisation are shaped by systematic training, leading to less reliance on working memory and more extensive connectivity within the brain.

Some of the brain changes that occur with musical training reflect the automation of task and the acquisition of highly specific sensorimotor and cognitive skills required for various aspects of musical expertise.

"Playing a musical instrument is a multi sensory and motor experience that creates emotions and motions from finger tapping to dancing and engages pleasure and reward systems in the brain. It has the potential to change brain function and structure when done over a long period of time," said  an expert on music, neuroimaging and brain plasticity.

"As today's findings show, intense musical training generates new processes within the brain, at different stages of life, and with a range of impacts on creativity, cognition, and learning," he said.

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How brain distinguishes one scent from another

Researchers have used the fruit fly to find out how the brain integrates multiple signals to identify one unique smell.

A team has described how a group of neurons in the fruit fly brain recognize multiple individual chemicals in combination in order to define, or remember, a single scent.

The olfactory system of a fruit fly begins at the equivalent of our nose, where a series of neurons sense and respond to very specific chemicals.

These neurons pass their signal on to a group of cells called projection neurons. Then the signal undergoes a transformation as it is passed to a body of neurons in the fly brain called Kenyon cells.

Kenyon cells have multiple, extremely long protrusions that grasp the projection neurons with a claw-like structure. Each Kenyon cell claw is wrapped tightly around only one projection neuron, meaning that it receives a signal from just one type of input.

In addition to their unique structure, Kenyon cells are also remarkable for their selectivity. Because they’re selective, they aren’t often activated. Yet little is known about what in fact makes them decide to fire a signal.

The team used cutting-edge microscopy to explore the chemical response profile for multiple claws on one Kenyon cell.

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‘Lack of awareness among parents a major hurdle in treating children with cerebral palsy’

The Indian Academy of Cerebral Palsy had declared October 3 as National Cerebral Palsy 

Day. A Dr. said that lack of awareness among parents was a major hurdle in treating 

children with cerebral palsy. Simple physiotherapy exercises and occupational therapy 

along with spasticity control measures would help these children to improve their walking 

abilities and integrate with the society.

Cerebral palsy was a neurodevelopmental disorder. A majority of children with this 

disorder would suffer from physical and mental disabilities. 

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