New human hair sized needle can make brain injections possible

Evolving in the field of medicine, scientists have created a needle equal to the size of human hair, an invention that can make brain injections possible.  

The needle was created by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and contains the possibility to deliver medicine directly to brain areas as small as one cubic millimeter. This human hair sized needle can treat certain diseases affecting the brain without harming or interacting with other nearby areas of the body.

The needle is made up of tubes that can distribute drugs deep inside the brain. Because of the smooth and fine components of the needle, the doctor has full control over the placement and depth of needle and also about the quantity of the medicine distributed. Not only did the researchers delivered drugs, but also injected another dose of saline to wash away the drug, a technique that gave them the precise control on dosing drugs, reported Futurism.

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Publishing their research in Science Translational Medicine, the researchers carried out successful tests of the needle on rats. The successfully delivered a dose of medicine to a particular region of the brain that affected the rat’s motor function.

The lead author of the study Canan Dagdeviren expressed, “We can infuse very small amounts of multiple drugs compared to what we can do intravenously or orally, and also manipulate behavioral changes through drug infusion.”

According to researchers, this technique can lead to new treatments and also improve the previous ones. They can also treat certain diseases that target specific brain areas. Many of the current medicines to treat brain feature certain side effects as well, with these types of needles, the side effects can lessen up too.

Medical Xpress reported, one of the senior authors Robert Langer exclaimed, “We believe this tiny microfabricated device could have tremendous impact in understanding brain diseases, as well as providing new ways of delivering biopharmaceuticals and performing biosensing in the brain.”