The work presented by the student of Master's in Neuroengineering of Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), Alice de Oliveira Barreto Suassuna, was awarded the third place in the Cândido Pinto de Melo Award, on October 25, 2018. This is the highest academic award given to researchers and students during the XXVI Brazilian Congress of Biomedical Engineering.
The award-winning research is part of the area of biocompatibility. The multidisciplinary team at IIN-ELS studied the inflammatory response of the Central Nervous System (CNS) when implanting a microelectrode in the spinal cord for a period of two days. This type of device is already used in humans to treat chronic pain. Research is evaluating its effectiveness in other diseases, such as Parkinson's.
Manuela Sales Lima Nascimento, a researcher at IIN-ELS and participant in this study, explains that the initial hypothesis predicted that there would be no immune response from the CNS to this implant for two reasons: the short time the equipment remained in the body of the experimental model (two days) and the fact that the implant is semi-invasive. It does not come into contact with the Nervous System, as it is placed over the membrane that covers this system.
However, what was noted when extracting the spinal cord and analyzing the cells in the implant region is that there was a relevant inflammatory response. This is due to the action of CNS defense cells called microglia. Above and below the implant region there was no inflammatory response.
Next steps in the research
The next step in the research is to analyze the action of microglia in chronic implants, which remain in the body for more than thirty days. There are cases in which the system identifies a foreign object and initiates an inflammatory process, but after some time realizes that there is no risk to health and deactivates the defenses. The researchers at IIN-ELS want to know if this occurs in the case of microelectrode implants in the spinal cord or if the inflammation persists, which would represent a barrier to this type of treatment.
Nascimento believes that a factor that may have contributed to the work being awarded, in addition to the scientific novelty, is the fact that it integrate several areas of knowledge. “This is a Neuroimmunology study that encompasses immunology, neuroscience and engineering, since even the microelectrode used in the research was produced at IIN-ELS itself, in Macaíba (RN), where we have expertise in this type of activity”, explains Nascimento.
The presentation of the work to the jury of the Cândido Pinto de Melo Award was carried out by Alice de Oliveira Barreto Suassuna. “It was incredible to face this challenge of presenting the research in a competition with 12 finalists, where there were researchers, doctoral and post-doctoral students, among others. At the awards ceremony it was announced that this is the most honorable award in the Brazilian Society of Biomedical Engineering”, comments Suassuna.
The scientific article on the award-winning study was approved for publication in the journal of the XXVI Brazilian Congress of Biomedical Engineering. The following participated in this research: Alice de Oliveira Barreto Suassuna, Mariana Ferreira Pereira de Araújo (Alice's advisor), Mayara Jully Costa Silva, João Rodrigo de Oliveira, Valton da Silva Costa, Luiz da Costa Nepomuceno Filho, Fernanda Cristina de Mesquita, Ana Carolina Bione Kunicki and Manuela Sales Lima Nascimento.
Text: Luiz Paulo Juttel / Ascom – ISD
Photograph: Disclosure – ISD
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