A great treatment for certain mental disorders is electrical stimulation of the brain. Now a new computer chip implanted directly onto the brain provides precise stimulation – and could cure depression. The device, known by the abbreviated ReNaChip, is the brainchild of a team of engineers at Israel’s Tel Aviv University. Led by Professor Matti Mintz, they believe they are only a few years away from having a chip that can be implanted into humans and fully regulated just when and where patients require stimulation.
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An experimental test, which involves placing of six electrodes around the forehead and on the earlobes, can accurately predict within a week whether a particular antidepressant will be effective by using brain-wave patterns on an EEG. The lead author of the study and professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, Dr. Andrew Leuchter, said that until now there had been no reliable method for predicting whether a medication would lead to a good response or remission. The test can be performed in 10 to 15 minutes in any office setting.

Ultra-thin platinum wires are playing an important role in a new technique for recording electrical activity in the brain. Scientists at the University of Utah have been exploring ways to improve electrocorticography (ECoG), which usually involves imbedding electrodes in the brain. Meanwhile, a team at the Salt Lake City institution has created grids with microsized electrodes that can be placed on the surface of the brain rather than being inserted directly.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS), which involves the insertion of electrodes into the brain to send small electric charges to it and alter the dieter’s perception on fullness and even attitude to food altogether, can be used to tackle the obesity problem. A three-year trial is currently underway in the US, with two volunteers having already undergone the procedure. Should the surgery be approved by the US Government at the end of the trial period, Dr. Donald Whiting, a neurosurgeon at West Virginia University Hospital that has performed two such interventions, says, other countries will also consider allowing it to be performed on patients who have tried it all and failed to lose weight.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted 510(k) clearance to NeuroMetrix, Inc.’s UNIVERSAL Electrodes. NeuroMetrix can, now, launch the electrodes which are to be used in conjunction with the company’s ADVANCE(TM) NCS/EMG System to perform studies in nerve conduction. The UNIVERSAL Electrodes are for single patient use and are disposable. These electrodes will allow doctors to stimulate and record from any peripheral nerve at both proximal and distal sites.