Researchers have built a flexible, needle‑thin brain implant (mAxialtrode) that can simultaneously record neural activity, deliver drugs, and stimulate multiple brain regions, demonstrated in mice.
A collaborative team from the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, University College London and other institutions has created a microfluidic Axialtrode (mAxialtrode), a flexible polymer fiber less than half a millimeter wide. The fiber contains a central light‑conducting core, eight microscopic channels for fluid transport, and thin metal wires for electrical recording, allowing it to deliver light, drugs and electrical signals along its length.
In vivo tests in living mice showed that the mAxialtrode could stimulate neurons with blue and red light, record electrical activity from both shallow cortical and deeper hippocampal regions, and inject different substances at separate depths spaced about three millimeters apart, all using a single lightweight fiber that the animals tolerated without obvious discomfort.
The researchers present the device primarily as a research tool for probing how signals travel across brain layers during processes such as epilepsy, memory and decision‑making. They note that, in the longer term, the implant could enable precise drug delivery combined with electrical or optical stimulation for therapeutic purposes, though this would require further development.
The team cautions that the technology is far from routine clinical use; extensive testing, additional development and regulatory approvals would be needed before it could be applied to patients.