Neural Noise

Adhesive nonfibrotic bioelectronic interfaces for long-term peripheral nerve neuromodulation

2 min read

  • Adhesive, nonfibrotic bioelectronic interfaces on diverse peripheral nerves enable long-term functional neuromodulation. 1
  • The approach is relevant to neuroprosthetics and closed-loop interfaces. 1
  • The work was published in Science (November 2025). 1 1

Weekly enrichment (2026-07-20)

  • The work was published in Science Advances (not Science) on November 7, 2025, as “Adhesive nonfibrotic bioelectronic interfaces on diverse peripheral nerves for long-term functional neuromodulation,” volume 11, issue 45, article eadz3668, by Hyunmin Moon, Bastien F. G. Aymon, Jue Deng and colleagues, with senior authors Jingjing Wu and Xuanhe Zhao at MIT.2 3
  • The device, termed an adhesive nonfibrotic bioelectronic (ANB), forms covalent bonds with the nerve surface so it envelops and adheres to nerves rather than compressing them like traditional cuff electrodes, avoiding the mechanically driven foreign-body reaction.4 5
  • Nonfibrotic interfaces were demonstrated on six anatomically diverse peripheral nerves of different sizes: occipital, vagus, deep peroneal, sciatic, tibial, and common peroneal nerves, for up to 12 weeks.2 4
  • By inhibiting immune-cell infiltration at the device–tissue interface, the adhesive prevented fibrous capsule formation; histology after 12 weeks with continuous stimulation showed only minimal macrophage accumulation and limited smooth muscle actin and collagen deposition, whereas nonadhesive controls formed thick, densely cellularized fibrous capsules with fat necrosis and scarring.2 4
  • In a functional demonstration, the ANB maintained drug-free blood-pressure regulation in a spontaneously hypertensive rat model for over four weeks.4 5
  • The electrode architecture combines bioadhesive hydrogel chemistry with multimaterial 3D printing of insulating and conductive layers, producing a soft, stretchable, tough interface; it remained mechanically and electrically stable after 100,000 tensile cycles to 100% stretch, 10,000 charge-storage/charge-injection cycles, and 12 weeks of PBS immersion.5
  • The study builds on the group’s earlier adhesive antifibrotic patch that suppressed fibrosis on organ surfaces but lacked functional neuromodulation, and the authors frame it as a broadly applicable strategy for implantable bioelectronics targeting conditions such as hypertension, stroke, and epilepsy.5 6

Footnotes

  1. https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiX0FVX3lxTE9IVUhXNmRyZXRTZ2N6OXFtajJuOTdtbmdFNnY0WGNsbzdwUGx3azBLY25iOWRsVUJEU2RtUWIyTGlfVTJDdTg0RnBCMV81d2Q1ekk3SUk2MUVzX1VqRDFR?oc=5 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. https://scholars.duke.edu/publication/1693111 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz3668 ↩

  4. https://news.mit.edu/2025/new-bioadhesive-strategy-can-prevent-fibrous-encapsulation-around-device-implants-peripheral-1203 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adz3668 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12588291/ ↩

Graph View