G, et al. (2005) Homeostatic responses in the adrenal cortex to the absence of aldosterone in mice. Endocrinology 146:2650?656. 33. Pascoe L, Curnow KM, Slutsker L, R ler A, White PC (1992) Mutations in the human CYP11B2 (aldosterone synthase) gene causing corticosterone methyloxidase II deficiency. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:4996?000. 34. Friedman SM, Sreter FA, Nakashima M, Friedman CL (1962) Adrenal cortex and neurohypophyseal deficiency in salt and water homeostasis of rats. Am J Physiol 203: 697?01. 35. Stockand JD (2010) Vasopressin regulation of renal sodium excretion. Kidney Int 78: 849?56. 36. Committee for the Update of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (2011) Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (Washington, D.C., The National HMPL-012MedChemExpress Sulfatinib Academies Press). 37. Masilamani S, Kim GH, Mitchell C, Wade JB, Knepper MA (1999) Aldosterone-mediated regulation of ENaC alpha, beta, and gamma subunit proteins in rat kidney. J Clin Invest 104:R19 23. 38. Roos KP, Strait KA, Raphael KL, Blount MA, Kohan DE (2012) Collecting duct-specific knockout of adenylyl cyclase type VI causes a urinary concentration defect in mice. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 302:F78 84.10100 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.Mironova et al.
CORE CONCEPTSBrain achine interfacePrashant Nair Science WriterIn a world awash in technology, the line between humans and machines has begun to blur, our thoughts and actions increasingly shaped and substantiated by machines. Perhaps nowhere is the blurring more evident than in a scientific endeavor called “neural interfacing,” a term for technology aimed at bridging the RRx-001 biological activity workings of machines and the human brain. Brain achine interfaces operate at the nexus of thought and action, using the brain’s electrical signals to maneuver external devices such as prosthetic limbs, among other applications. (Noninvasive imaging techniques such as electroencephalography and functional MRI are also examples of brain achine interfaces.) The hope is that such devices will someday help paralyzed people, who have lost motor control, to lead more independent lives. The idea of tapping into the brain’s electrical activity to control movement is more than two decades old, with attempts to record the neural coordinates of movement from the motor cortex of the monkey brain dating back to the 1960s (1). Progress has been understandably slow, but, within the last 5 years,impressive gains in technology have helped mark a few milestones. In 2006, Brown University neuroscientist John Donoghue and others reported the result of a clinical trial of a surgically implanted, silicon-based device dubbed BrainGate, which allowed a 25-year-old tetraplegic patient with spinal cord injury to move a cursor on a computer screen, open an e-mail message, operate a television, open and close a prosthetic hand, and perform simple movements using a robotic arm–3 years after paralysis. Despite the advance, the researchers wrote that the use of the device depended on the “assistance of trained experts. The need for this assistance must be eliminated through system automation” (2). Two years later, University of Pittsburgh neuroscientist Andrew Schwartz and others moved the field another step forward: Macaque monkeys with lightly restrained arms and silicon electrodes implanted in the motor cortex could be taught to use their thoughts to move a mechanical arm, grasp food items, and even feed themselves (3). The advance was notable, partly because the monkeys.G, et al. (2005) Homeostatic responses in the adrenal cortex to the absence of aldosterone in mice. Endocrinology 146:2650?656. 33. Pascoe L, Curnow KM, Slutsker L, R ler A, White PC (1992) Mutations in the human CYP11B2 (aldosterone synthase) gene causing corticosterone methyloxidase II deficiency. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:4996?000. 34. Friedman SM, Sreter FA, Nakashima M, Friedman CL (1962) Adrenal cortex and neurohypophyseal deficiency in salt and water homeostasis of rats. Am J Physiol 203: 697?01. 35. Stockand JD (2010) Vasopressin regulation of renal sodium excretion. Kidney Int 78: 849?56. 36. Committee for the Update of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (2011) Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (Washington, D.C., The National Academies Press). 37. Masilamani S, Kim GH, Mitchell C, Wade JB, Knepper MA (1999) Aldosterone-mediated regulation of ENaC alpha, beta, and gamma subunit proteins in rat kidney. J Clin Invest 104:R19 23. 38. Roos KP, Strait KA, Raphael KL, Blount MA, Kohan DE (2012) Collecting duct-specific knockout of adenylyl cyclase type VI causes a urinary concentration defect in mice. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 302:F78 84.10100 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.Mironova et al.
CORE CONCEPTSBrain achine interfacePrashant Nair Science WriterIn a world awash in technology, the line between humans and machines has begun to blur, our thoughts and actions increasingly shaped and substantiated by machines. Perhaps nowhere is the blurring more evident than in a scientific endeavor called “neural interfacing,” a term for technology aimed at bridging the workings of machines and the human brain. Brain achine interfaces operate at the nexus of thought and action, using the brain’s electrical signals to maneuver external devices such as prosthetic limbs, among other applications. (Noninvasive imaging techniques such as electroencephalography and functional MRI are also examples of brain achine interfaces.) The hope is that such devices will someday help paralyzed people, who have lost motor control, to lead more independent lives. The idea of tapping into the brain’s electrical activity to control movement is more than two decades old, with attempts to record the neural coordinates of movement from the motor cortex of the monkey brain dating back to the 1960s (1). Progress has been understandably slow, but, within the last 5 years,impressive gains in technology have helped mark a few milestones. In 2006, Brown University neuroscientist John Donoghue and others reported the result of a clinical trial of a surgically implanted, silicon-based device dubbed BrainGate, which allowed a 25-year-old tetraplegic patient with spinal cord injury to move a cursor on a computer screen, open an e-mail message, operate a television, open and close a prosthetic hand, and perform simple movements using a robotic arm–3 years after paralysis. Despite the advance, the researchers wrote that the use of the device depended on the “assistance of trained experts. The need for this assistance must be eliminated through system automation” (2). Two years later, University of Pittsburgh neuroscientist Andrew Schwartz and others moved the field another step forward: Macaque monkeys with lightly restrained arms and silicon electrodes implanted in the motor cortex could be taught to use their thoughts to move a mechanical arm, grasp food items, and even feed themselves (3). The advance was notable, partly because the monkeys.
