This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Neurology  • Statistics and Research Methods  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2006;296:1580.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Scientists have brought nanotechnology to neuroscience, using microscopic silicon nanowires to detect, stimulate, and inhibit nerve signals along the axons and dendrites of mammalian neurons (Patolsky F et al. Science. 2006;313:1100-1104).

Established techniques for neuron studies use larger, cumbersome devices that interface with a whole cell or many cells at a time. For example, micropipette electrodes are invasive tools that can harm cells, and microfabricated electrode arrays are too bulky to detect activity at the level of individual neurons.

With artificial synapses (each made of a nanowire between 2 nanowire electrodes) connected at up to 50 locations along a single axon of a neuron, scientists can detect, stimulate, and inhibit nerve signals (Science. 2006;313:1100-1104). (Photo credit: AAAS)

The use of nanowires "is a quantum jump forward" from current technology, said Charles Lieber, PhD, the principal investigator of the study and a chemist at Harvard . . . [Full Text of this Article]

NUTS AND BOLTS OF NANOWIRES



CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?