An implantable computer chip developed by UW scientists has successfully measured, recorded and transmitted brain signals from one section of the brain to another.

This breakthrough has the potential to be useful in restoring movement to paraplegics and restoring brain function to stroke victims.

UW alum Jaideep Mavoori said, "the neurochip has all the necessary hardware and software onboard to record neuromuscular activity, discriminate spike patterns and to stimulate neural pathways for behavior modulation."

Eberhard Fetz, a neuroscientist specializing in motor functions in primates, worked with Mavoori and Andrew Jackson, a senior research fellow of the UW who developed the electrodes and where to place them on the primate brain.

"I've been doing research on the primate motor system since 1969," Fetz said. "This particular project took off about three years ago."

The implanted computer chip works by recording stimuli from the brain of the primate and converting it into electrical pulses.

These pulses allow that portion of the primate's brain to be monitored while the animal is unencumbered by complicated wires and sensor equipment, which is a major breakthrough in the field.

These brain signals, converted to electrical pulses, could then be sent via the implant to another area of the motor cortex, the portion of the brain the implant was attached to. Doing so synchronized the two connected areas of the brain, with interesting results.

"When you implement this connection it induces new long-term connections between [the sites in question]," Fetz said.

The results point toward two major therapeutic possibilities for this technology.

The first would be sending signals from the brain directly to another area of the brain or peripheral nervous system, thereby bypassing damaged biological neural pathways.

Such a use could effectively restore movement to paraplegics.

The second use for such a system would be strengthening weak neural connections between different areas of the brain.

This treatment could effectively cure stroke victims, restoring complete brain function.

Reach reporter Anthony Michael Erickson at news@thedaily.washington.edu.