These devices do not require batteries and may be able to stimulate nerves and muscles. This opens the door to a new and increasingly used concept, Electroceuticals, recently coined the term that broadly encompasses all bioelectronic medicines employing electrical stimulation to influence and modify body functions. This “Neural Dust” is implanted in muscles and peripheral rat nerves and its only use is to produce an ultrasound. When placed in a muscle or nerve, these devices can take readings of the data to be analyzed but can also be used to stimulate muscle or nerve. Ultrasound technology is already very well developed for the treatment of patients in palliative care, and the ultrasound vibrations are able to penetrate virtually anywhere within the human body, making them much more useful than the radio waves.
Michel Maharbiz, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, is a major contributor and author of this study. He notes and believes that the long-term prospects for the use of this “Neural Dust” will not only when it comes to the interior of the nerves and brain, as its action base will be much broader. These nano-devices will have access to telemetry within the body, functionality that was not possible because there was never a way to put something so small in such a deep place. But now, this super small particle can be parked in any organ or nerve which will be able to read or analyze the data. Currently, the prototypes that have been tested in rats using an epoxy surgery, but in the future, it is intended to use any inert material not to activate the immune system. Additionally, the actual size of the sensor is 1 mm, something comparable to a grain of sand, which allows them to be placed in direct contact with the nerves or muscles that are to be monitored. Thus, the same sensor can be used both to act on the nerve or muscle fiber, and to make the measurement at a nerve or muscle fiber. Another possibility, which is being analyzed, relates to the possibility of the sensors can take readings of non-electrical information such as oxygen levels or hormones. But with the door open, there are usage scenarios that not happening in the imagination.
