一项新的研究表明，由有机成分制成的人造神经元可以与生物系统整合在一起 - 在这种情况下，金星蝇trap（Dionaea muscipula） - 并发送自然系统可以解释的信号。

Animal cruelty concerns

Science has always found a rich source of inspiration from the melding of biology and technology. Our improved understanding of the nervous system and rapid advances in microchip design has produced innovations likebrain-computer interfaces以及迈向的第一步脑植入物。

But信息上周由动物权利组医师委员会发布的部分，部分强调了将生物学和非生物系统结合的难以置信的困难。

这些指控针对埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）的大脑植入公司公司Neuralink, and the facilities of the University of California, Davis, where monkeys used in experiments designed to test the company’s flagship implant were held.

这most troubling allegations suggested that monkeys involved in the study had not been provided with adequate veterinary care. Non-human primates arerarely医师委员会说，由于其护理的成本和严格的监管以及对猴子的虐待的建议和强度的监管，调查美国农业部动物和植物健康检验服务部。

Siliconsafety

这reports highlighted a separate, more fundamental issue with neurotechnology research that goes beyond potential failures of animal welfare: the brain doesn’t interact well with conventional electronic components.

“Silicon-based circuits commonly used in neurotechnology suffer from several limitations such as rigidity, poor biocompatibility, high circuit complexity and operation mechanisms fundamentally different from biological systems,” saysSimone Fabiano，Linkoping University的助理教授。这种差的生物相容性意味着参与此类研究的动物正在增加risk脑损伤和感染。这医师委员会said in their complaint that 15 of 23 monkeys involved in Neuralink’s research died before or during the experiments.

Fabiano is the senior author on a new纸这表明了设计神经技术的替代途径，该神经技术可以创建植入物，该植入物与生物环境旁边更安全有效。

Biological neurons rely on the transmission of charged ions to function. The action potentials through which signals are transmitted in the brain, for example, require a stream of calcium and potassium ions in to and out of the cell respectively. But electronic devices operate in a fundamentally different way, using the flow of electrons instead.

Fabiano的团队设计了一种由塑料和碳制造的人造神经元，该神经元可能绕过硅技术面临的许多问题。他解释说：“我们开发的人造神经元基于所谓的混合离子电导导电聚合物，即可以运输离子和电子的聚合物。”Fabiano说，这一属性可以改善其有机系统的生物相容性。

人造信号有助于捕捉快照关闭

为了测试他们的人工神经元，研究人员使用了一种不寻常的模型，该模型甚至没有传统的神经系统：金星捕蝇器。Fabiano explains that the team wanted an “easy-to-handle” model system for their research. The Flytrap, like other plants, has no nerves or neurons, but can generate action potentials. While in many plants, the exact function of these action potentials remains a bit of a mystery, in the carnivorous Flytrap, they are harnessed to allow the plant to rapidly shut its jaws on unsuspecting prey.

Fabiano and his team wired up their artificial neurons to Flytraps via electrodes and were able to force the Flytrap to shut its maw simply by firing an input signal through the artificial neurons.

在此视频中，可以看到由人造神经元输入的动作电位引起了金星蝇叶的关闭。信用：Harikesh等。

神经元使用生物学启发的离子信号传导并不是其唯一的好处。Fabiano解释说，聚合物可以用纸和塑料等材料铸造，从而使其灵活。神经元还以基于硅的系统所需的电压大约是十分之一的电压。Fabiano说，除了使设备更适合有机环境外，这也有可能启用无电池设备。

这项研究仍处于早期阶段。将设备集成到复杂的神经系统中将需要更多的创新。Fabiano解释说，团队的下一个目标是生产一种可以从频率和能源效率方面匹配生物神经元的设备。“我们可以通过缩小设备尺寸并改善混合离子电导聚合物的电响应来实现这一目标，”他说。

参考：Harikesh PC，Yang C，Tu D等。带有离子介导的尖峰的有机电化学神经元和突触。纳特社区。2022. doi：10.1038/S41467-022-28483-6