创新背景

使用传统电极缩小界面的尺寸非常困难，以便数千个电极可以在非常小的区域内连接到数千条神经。当缩小数千个电极并将它们更紧密地连接在一起以连接到生物组织时，其中一个问题是它们的个体电阻增加，这会降低信噪比，因此会在读取信号时出现问题，被称为“阻抗不匹配”。

另一个问题是“串扰”——电极缩小靠近时，它们就会因为彼此的距离而开始交谈或相互影响。

创新过程

新南威尔士大学的研究人员提出了一种新方法：使用液晶和集成光学技术（称为“optrodes”）制造的传感器可以记录活体动物体内的神经冲动。这些光极不仅表现得和传统电极一样好（传统电极利用电流检测神经冲动），而且还解决了“竞争技术无法解决的非常棘手的问题“。

该团队将一个光极连接到麻醉动物的坐骨神经上。然后用小电流刺激神经，用optrodes记录神经信号。然后他们用传统电极和生物放大器做了同样的实验。

他们证明了神经反应本质上是相同的。该团队已经能够证明神经脉冲（相对较弱，以微伏测量）可以通过光极技术记录下来。下一步将是扩大光极的数量，使之能够处理神经和易兴奋组织的复杂网络。

在人类大脑和手之间有一束神经从你的大脑皮层向下传播，最终分裂成那5000到10000条神经，控制着手的精密操作。如果一个带有数千个光学连接的芯片可以连接到大脑，或者在神经束分离之前连接到手臂上的某个地方，那么假肢就可能具有与生物手相同的功能。

创新关键点

在新设备中，如果有神经活动，它的存在会影响液晶的方向，研究人员可以通过对其进行照射来检测和量化。

创新价值

后续研究将包括发展双向光极的能力。它们不仅能在传递到身体的过程中接收和解释来自大脑的信号，还能以神经脉冲的形式接收反馈，并返回到大脑。

Innovative combination of liquid crystal and optrodes can record nerve impulses in living animals

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have come up with a new way to record nerve impulses in living animals using sensors made with liquid crystals and integrated optics called optrodes. Not only did these light poles perform as well as conventional electrodes, which use electricity to detect nerve impulses, but they also solved "very tricky problems that competing technologies could not solve".

The team attached a light pole to the sciatic nerve of anesthetized animals. The nerve is then stimulated with a small current, and the signal is recorded with optrodes. Then they did the same experiment with conventional electrodes and a biological amplifier.

They showed that the neural responses were essentially the same. The team has been able to show that nerve pulses, which are relatively weak and measured in microvolts, can be recorded using light-pole techniques. The next step will be to expand the number of photopoles so that they can handle complex networks of nerves and excitable tissues.

Between the human brain and the hand there is a bundle of nerves that travels down from your cortex and eventually splits into those 5,000 to 10,000 nerves that control the delicate operation of the hand. If a chip with thousands of optical connections could be attached to the brain, or somewhere on the arm before the nerve bundles separate, a prosthetic could have the same function as a biological hand.