Unsupervised mobile cognitive testing for use in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Unsupervised digital cognitive testing is an appealing means to capture subtle cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we describe development, feasibility, and validity of the Boston Remote Assessment for Neurocognitive Health (BRANCH) against in-person cognitive testing and amyloid/tau burden.

Methods: BRANCH is web-based, self-guided, and assesses memory processes vulnerable in AD.

A superoxide scavenging coating for improving tissue response to neural implants.

The advancement of neural prostheses requires implantable neural electrodes capable of electrically stimulating or recording signals from neurons chronically. Unfortunately, the implantation injury and presence of foreign bodies lead to chronic inflammation, resulting in neuronal death in the vicinity of electrodes. A key mediator of inflammation and neuronal loss are reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS).

ROS responsive resveratrol delivery from LDLR peptide conjugated PLA-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles across the blood-brain barrier.

Background: Oxidative stress acts as a trigger in the course of neurodegenerative diseases and neural injuries. An antioxidant-based therapy can be effective to ameliorate the deleterious effects of oxidative stress. Resveratrol (RSV) has been shown to be effective at removing excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) or reactive nitrogen species generation in the central nervous system (CNS), but the delivery of RSV into the brain through systemic administration is inefficient.

Neuroadhesive L1 coating attenuates acute microglial attachment to neural electrodes as revealed by live two-photon microscopy.

Implantable neural electrode technologies for chronic neural recordings can restore functional control to paralysis and limb loss victims through brain-machine interfaces. These probes, however, have high failure rates partly due to the biological responses to the probe which generate an inflammatory scar and subsequent neuronal cell death. L1 is a neuronal specific cell adhesion molecule and has been shown to minimize glial scar formation and promote electrode-neuron integration when covalently attached to the surface of neural probes.

Elastomeric and soft conducting microwires for implantable neural interfaces.

Current designs for microelectrodes used for interfacing with the nervous system elicit a characteristic inflammatory response that leads to scar tissue encapsulation, electrical insulation of the electrode from the tissue and ultimately failure. Traditionally, relatively stiff materials like tungsten and silicon are employed which have mechanical properties several orders of magnitude different from neural tissue. This mechanical mismatch is thought to be a major cause of chronic inflammation and degeneration around the device.