X-Message-Number: 20326
From: "Basie" <>
Subject: Brain-On-A-Chip 
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 23:09:16 -0400

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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) 




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