In last decade, the possibility to optically interface with the mammalian brain in vivo has allowed unprecedented investigation of functional connectivity of neural circuitry. Together with new genetic and molecular techniques to optically trigger and monitor neural activity, a new generation of optical neural interfaces is being developed, mainly thanks to the exploitation of both bottom-up and top-down nanofabrication approaches. This review highlights the role of nanotechnologies for optical neural interfaces, with particular emphasis on new devices and methodologies for optogenetic control of neural activity and unconventional methods for detection and triggering of action potentials using optically-active colloidal nanoparticles.
Keywords: nanoparticles; nanotechnology; neural interfaces; optical fibers; optogenetics.