Building artificial nerve cells
Organic electrochemical neurons and synapses with ion mediated spiking


Date:
February 22, 2022
Source:
Linko"ping University
Summary:
For the first time, researchers demonstrate an artificial organic
neuron, a nerve cell, that can be integrated with a living plant
and an artificial organic synapse. Both the neuron and the synapse
are made from printed organic electrochemical transistors.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
For the first time, researchers demonstrate an artificial organic neuron,
a nerve cell, that can be integrated with a living plant and an artificial organic synapse. Both the neuron and the synapse are made from printed
organic electrochemical transistors.


==========================================================================
On connecting to the carnivorous Venus flytrap, the electrical pulses
from the artificial nerve cell can cause the plant's leaves to close,
although no fly has entered the trap. Organic semiconductors can conduct
both electrons and ions, thus helping mimic the ion-based mechanism of
pulse (action potential) generation in plants. In this case, the small
electric pulse of less than 0.6 V can induce action potentials in the
plant, which in turn causes the leaves to close.

"We chose the Venus flytrap so we could clearly show how we can steer
the biological system with the artificial organic system and get them
to communicate in the same language," says Simone Fabiano, associate
professor and principal investigator in organic nanoelectronics at
the Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Linko"ping University, Campus Norrko"ping.

In 2018 the research group at Linko"ping University became the first to
develop complementary and printable organic electrochemical circuits --
that is, with both n-type and p-type polymers, which conduct negative
and positive charges.

This made it possible to build printed complementary organic
electrochemical transistors. The group has subsequently optimised the
organic transistors, so that they can be manufactured in printing presses
on thin plastic foil.

Thousands of transistors can be printed on a single plastic
substrate. Together with researchers in Lund and Gothenburg, the group
has used the printed transistors to emulate the neurons and synapses of
the biological system. The results have been published in the journal
Nature Communications.

"For the first time, we're using the transistor's ability to switch
based on ion concentration to modulate the spiking frequency," says
Padinhare Cholakkal Harikesh, post-doctoral researcher at the Laboratory
of Organic Electronics.

The spiking frequency gives the signal that causes the biological system
to react.

"We've also shown that the connection between the neuron and the synapse
has a learning behaviour, called Hebbian learning. Information is stored
in the synapse, which makes the signalling more and more effective,"
says Simone Fabiano.

The hope is that artificial nerve cells can be used for sensitive human prostheses, implantable systems for relieving neurological diseases,
and soft intelligent robotics.

"We've developed ion-based neurons, similar to our own, that can
be connected to biological systems. Organic semiconductors have
numerous advantages - - they're biocompatible, biodegradable, soft and formable. They only require low voltage to operate, which is completely harmless to both plants and vertebrates" explains Chi-Yuan Yang,
post-doctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics.

The research has been financially supported by the Knut and Alice
Wallenberg foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish
Foundation for Strategic Research and the Swedish Government Strategic
Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linko?ping University among others.

special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Linko"ping_University. Original
written by Monica Westman Svenselius. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Padinhare Cholakkal Harikesh, Chi-Yuan Yang, Deyu Tu, Jennifer Y.

Gerasimov, Abdul Manan Dar, Adam Armada-Moreira, Matteo Massetti,
Renee Kroon, David Bliman, Roger Olsson, Eleni Stavrinidou,
Magnus Berggren, Simone Fabiano. Organic Electrochemical Neurons
and Synapses with Ion Mediated Spiking. Nature Communications,
2022 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022- 28483-6 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220222121302.htm

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