腦植入突破可能逆轉(zhuǎn)癱瘓

腦植入突破可能逆轉(zhuǎn)癱瘓

When a person becomes paralyzed, whether by traumatic injury or as the result of a disease, there’s usually precious little hope for reversing it. Ian Burkhart became almost entirely paralyzed after an injury in 2010, and now he’s one of the first patients to show promise using a new system that combines a brain implant with signal-reading software to restore motion and, incredibly, the sense of touch.

當一個人癱瘓時，無論是由于外傷還是疾病，通常都很難逆轉(zhuǎn)。伊恩·布克哈特在2010年受傷后幾乎完全癱瘓，現(xiàn)在他是第一批使用新系統(tǒng)顯示希望的患者之一，該系統(tǒng)將腦植入物與信號讀取軟件結(jié)合起來，來恢復運動，更難以置信的是，恢復觸覺。

As Syfy Wire reports, Burkhart’s progress is the subject of a new paper published in Cell, and it could change how doctors approach the difficult process of treating paralyzed patients.

Syfy Wire報道，布克哈特的進展是《細胞》雜志上發(fā)表的一篇新論文的主題，它可能會改變醫(yī)生處理癱瘓病人的困難過程的方式。

Spinal cord injuries can be absolutely devastating. They can completely shut down motor function and sensory inputs in affected limbs. Researchers at the Battelle Memorial Institute developed a new type of system to tackle these tragic cases, and it begins with a brain implant. The system works by picking up on the incredibly mild signals that seem to persist between the brain and paralyzed muscles even after a traumatic injury.

脊髓損傷絕對是毀滅性的。它們能完全關(guān)閉患肢的運動功能和感覺輸入。巴特爾紀念研究所的研究人員開發(fā)了一種新型的系統(tǒng)，并將之植入大腦來處理這些悲慘的案例。這個系統(tǒng)的工作原理是，即使在遭受創(chuàng)傷后，大腦和癱瘓的肌肉之間也能接收到令人難以置信的微弱信號。

The idea here is that while the strong, easy-to-detect sensory signals are cut off when a person experiences paralysis, some much milder signals that facilitate the sense of touch are still being sent. Using a new technique, the researchers actually amplified those faint signals enough that they could be picked up by the brain. Using a brain-computer interface, the system picked up on signal activity via the brain implant and acted as a go-between to translate the signal into impulses that were routed to the patient’s arm via a series of bands.

這里的想法是，當一個人經(jīng)歷癱瘓時，雖然強烈的、易于察覺的感覺信號被切斷，但一些更溫和的、有助于觸覺的信號仍在發(fā)送。通過一項新技術(shù)，研究人員實際上放大了這些微弱的信號，使它們能夠被大腦接收到。利用腦-機接口，系統(tǒng)通過大腦植入物接收到信號活動，并充當中間人，將信號轉(zhuǎn)換成脈沖，通過一系列波段傳送到患者手臂。

Put simply, the signals to and from the Burkhart’s brain got some extra computer processing along the way, resulting in a closed-loop where the patient could both feel and move again. In a video by the researchers, Senior Research Scientist Gaurav Sharma says that the change was so dramatic that patients are able to grasp items and even play a game as dexterity-dependant as Guitar Hero.

簡單地說，往返于伯克哈特大腦的信號在傳輸過程中得到了一些額外的計算機處理，從而形成了一個閉環(huán)，病人可以在這個閉環(huán)中再次感覺和移動。在研究人員的一段視頻中，資深研究科學家高拉夫·夏爾馬(Gaurav Sharma)表示，這種變化非常顯著，患者可以抓東西，甚至可以玩像《吉他英雄》(Guitar Hero)那樣依賴靈巧度的游戲。

It’s an incredible development and the research here is obviously very promising. The challenge for the researchers will be to further perfect their hardware and software and, at some point in the future, shrink it to the point that it could possibly be worn by a paralyzed individual. Ultimately, returning a person to a more normal lifestyle is the goal, but there’s a lot of work left to be done.

這是一個令人難以置信的發(fā)展，該研究顯然很有前途。研究人員面臨的挑戰(zhàn)將是進一步完善他們的硬件和軟件，并在未來的某個時候，將其縮小到可能被一個癱瘓的人戴上的程度。最終的目標是讓一個人回歸更正常的生活方式，但還有很多工作要做。