from neuron to brain nicholls pdf download

These findings create opportunities for co-opting such brain–organ neural circuits to develop minimally invasive autonomic neuromodulation therapies for otherwise intractable metabolic and neurological disorders such as treatment-resistant depression, obesity or diabetes 6, 7. Besides the well-known homeostatic functions, recent evidence suggests that the consciously imperceptible gut-to-brain signals can also modulate higher-level cognitive processes such as motivation, affect, learning and memory 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The gut–brain communication exemplifies one such important pathway wherein humoral and neural signals emerging from the abdominal viscera relay metabolic information to the brain for maintaining energy balance. The extensive lines of bidirectional communication between the brain and visceral organs facilitate integration of internally arising interoceptive cues that are critical for survival. Finally, we show that optogenetic stimulation of vagal afferents from the intestinal lumen is sufficient to evoke a reward phenotype in untethered mice. We then apply the fibers in the anatomically challenging intestinal lumen and demonstrate wireless control of sensory epithelial cells that guide feeding behaviors. We validate this technology by modulating the mesolimbic reward pathway in the mouse brain. Paired with custom-fabricated control modules, the fibers wirelessly deliver light for optogenetics and transfer data for physiological recording. Our approach uses meters-long continuous fibers that can integrate light sources, electrodes, thermal sensors and microfluidic channels in a miniature footprint. Here we describe multifunctional neural interfaces that combine the scalability and mechanical versatility of thermally drawn polymer-based fibers with the sophistication of microelectronic chips for organs as diverse as the brain and the gut. Progress in understanding brain–viscera interoceptive signaling is hindered by a dearth of implantable devices suitable for probing both brain and peripheral organ neurophysiology during behavior. Multifunctional microelectronic fibers enable wireless modulation of gut and brain neural circuits

From neuron to brain nicholls pdf download