New wearable eye sensors developed by an engineering team at the University of Houston to track eye movements using special materials that generate electricity when it bends can assess brain disorders or damage to the brain according to a paper published in Advanced Healthcare Materials.
The eyes may be the window to the soul, but many brain disorders often display as eye symptoms before other symptoms appear. This is because the eyes are extensions of the brain, and why they can provide early warnings of brain-related disorders as well as information on what may be causing them, and the progression/symptoms of physical and mental shocks to the brain.
A simple eye exam may one day be able to reveal activity in the brain associated with brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Research has shown that the blood vessel activity in the eyes of those with the debilitating condition has been found to be notably different from that within healthy people.
Improvement in the blink of an eye
The new non-invasive sensors are flexible and developed using piezoelectricity, enabling easy and continuous measurements and monitoring of eyeball movements when combined with a hand-held display and computing device. They are made from crystal-like film that generates electricity when it bends or moves (piezoelectricity) allowing the materials to generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress. The researchers said that the output voltages from upper, mid, and lower sensors, or transducers, on different temple areas generate discernable patterns of voltage.
“Skin-attachable wearable sensors for monitoring vital signs and biomedical parameters are components of great importance in personal healthcare and portable diagnostic systems,” reports Jae-Hyun Ryou, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “Among them, thin-film piezoelectric sensors offer unique advantages of easy fabrication at low cost, a wide range of available sizes, lightweight, excellent mechanical flexibility and stability, rapid reaction rate, high sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio and excellent long-term stability and durability.”
“The new sensors are easy to wear and can be used in brain-eye relationship studies to evaluate the brain’s functional integrity,” said Ryou.
Focus in on brain disorders
Ocular movements are strongly linked to various brain disorders, as eyeball and upper eyelid controls are affected by brain function. Eye blinking patterns have been used in ophthalmological assessments for early diagnosis of disorders such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Aberrant blink rate and blink modulation was measured in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder with the spontaneous blink being a measure of the integrity of the dopaminergic system in the brain, in previous studies. Motor neurons in the brain, which relate to eyes and their muscle, have also been associated with autism.
“We believe that the F-PEMSA can be employed in many clinical studies concerning brain disorder conditions such as ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease as well as the aftermath of traumatic brain injuries like post-concussion syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder, potentially offering the prospect of early and accurate diagnoses and the development of personalized therapies,” said Ryou.
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https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2024/september/09162024-ryou-wearable-eye-sensors.php
