Implantation Scars the Brain, Version #2
Implantation Scars the Brain, Version #2
Submitted by Kevin Spencer and Jay Sy at the Koch Institute
MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Koch Institute at MIT
Kevin Spencer, Jay Sy
Cima Laboratory, Koch Institute
Spectral Scanning Confocal Microscopy
"Our lab is working to develop chronic delivery devices that are capable of treating neurologic disorders in the brain [by] releasing drug for extended periods of time. Such a device must operate effectively in the presence of any biological response to the device. This image depicts the brain’s response to an implanted drug delivery device that has been implanted for four weeks (device was implanted where the hole in seen in the picture). At this point, astrocytes, a support cell of the brain, forming a fibrous capsule around the implant, commonly referred to as glial scar. The goal of this experiment was to examine the biological response the materials (PEG coated borosilicate glass) used in our device."