磁性纳米颗粒在单神经元操控中的应用及定制化神经电路的构建

本研究论文聚焦磁性纳米颗粒在单神经元操控中的应用及定制化神经电路的构建。西湖大学先进神经芯片中心开发了一种创新方法，利用磁性纳米粒子和磁场来操控神经元，构建微型定制化神经回路，为研究神经连接提供了新工具。本中心2020级博士生章洪永为论文第一作者，西湖大学讲席教授Mohamad Sawan和副研究员卞素敏为通讯作者。感谢西湖大学微纳加工中心提供的技术支持和设施。

大脑是一个由数十亿神经细胞组成的超级计算机，要看清每个细胞之间如何传递信息是非常困难的。传统芯片上培养的神经细胞网络存在细胞多电极少，神经连接杂乱无章，单细胞信号难记录等问题，就像在嘈杂的菜市场里想听清两个人对话一样困难。为了解决这个难题，我们研发了一种单细胞操控平台，通过给神经细胞装上“磁性导航仪”(磁性纳米颗粒)，配合特定的磁场控制，可以把单个脑细胞精准固定在检测电极上。 经过测试，这种磁性材料对细胞非常安全，不会影响细胞正常活动。当这些被精准定位的脑细胞生长几天后，它们会伸出长长的轴突互相连接，形成环状微型回路。与真实大脑复杂的“蜘蛛网”结构不同，这种定制化的神经连接，结构简单可控，特别适合研究单个细胞间的“对话”。通过这个平台，我们首次实现了对神经电路里的每个神经细胞电活动的全程监控，清晰捕捉到细胞间传递的每一条信息。这项技术不仅为解密大脑工作原理提供了新工具，未来还可以拓展到研究其他细胞间的互动，比如单个神经细胞与肌肉细胞的连接，为生命科学研究打开了一扇新窗户。

引用本文（点击最下方阅读原文可下载PDF）

Zhang H, Zhao L, Huang N, et al., 2025. Magnetic nanoparticles for single-neuron manipulation to design a customized neural circuit. Bio-des Manuf 8(4):511–523. https://doi.org/10.1631/bdm.2400372

图1 利用磁性纳米颗粒磁化细胞，在磁性电极阵列上构建可控的神经连接环路

图2 单细胞操控及神经环路的构建方案

图3 磁性纳米颗粒处理前后的神经细胞形态变化

图4 单细胞神经信号的记录与刺激

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