© 1999 Robert A. Freitas Jr. All Rights Reserved.

Robert A. Freitas Jr., Nanomedicine, Volume I: Basic Capabilities, Landes Bioscience, Georgetown, TX, 1999

4.8.6 Noninvasive Neuroelectric Monitoring

In many ways the neuron is the most nanomedically important class of cell in the human body. Nanomedical applications regarding neurons and the brain are addressed in Chapter 25. The following is a brief summary of noninvasive (i.e., no axonal membrane penetration) nanotechnological methods for monitoring the electrical traffic of individual neurons. Noninvasive measurement of axonal traffic within nerve bundles will require multiple sensors and greater sensitivity to compensate for shielding by the perineurium, a tight resistive sheath enclosing the bundle ~20 microns thick with resistivity ~4000 ohm-cm.

Last updated on 17 February 2003