X-Message-Number: 20326 From: "Basie" <> Subject: Brain-On-A-Chip Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 23:09:16 -0400 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0006_01C27569.0C9CBE50 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Brain-On-A-Chip Technology Devised to Test Drugs Wed Oct 16, 2:05 PM ET LONDON (Reuters) - An American biotechnology company has developed a way of keeping brain tissue alive for weeks, which will allow scientists to test new drugs for a range of psychiatric diseases including Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. Using brain cells from rats and mice, scientists at Tensor Biosciences of Irvine, California have devised brain-on-a-chip technology that could speed up the development of new treatments. "We are building stripped-down mini-brains, if you will, directly on a chip," a spokesman for the company told New Scientist magazine Wednesday. The so-called mini-brain, which can survive for weeks at a time, will allow scientists to monitor the impact of drugs on brain networks instead of just individual cells. The glass chips contain thousands of interconnected animal brain cells suspended in a solution of artificial cerebral fluid. "An array of 64 electrodes on the chip's surface monitors the overall electrical activity of the brain tissue, just like an electroencephalogram (EEG), to show the effect the drugs have on the tissue," according to the magazine. An EEG is a record of the brain's activity. The company, which says the technology has been used to find a drug for anxiety with fewer side effects than existing treatments, will present its findings to a conference in the United States next week, the magazine added. ((London newsroom +44 207 542 8958, fax +44 207 542 9780) < Previous Story ------=_NextPart_000_0006_01C27569.0C9CBE50 Content-Type: text/html; [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20326