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  • Review Article
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Multifunctional bioelectronics for brain–body circuits

Nature Reviews Bioengineering volume 3, pages 465–484 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

The brain continuously receives, integrates and responds to an influx of sensory signals emerging from the internal organs. This is mediated not only through direct neuronal connections defined by the peripheral nervous system, but also endocrine, humoral, metabolic and immune pathways. This complex, mostly imperceptible brain–body crosstalk is essential to maintaining physiological homeostasis. It has a critical role in cognitive and behavioural functions as well as in disorders of the nervous system. The functional and anatomical diversity of brain–body pathways means that multifunctional implantable neurotechnologies must be developed to facilitate causal studies during behaviour. Although ubiquitous in studies of brain function, the electrical, optical and chemical interrogation of organ–brain circuits remains a challenge. In this Review, we discuss recent developments in multifunctional implantable neurotechnologies with the goal of enabling long-term studies of brain–body signalling. We highlight the material selection, device architectures, integration challenges and power and data transfer approaches necessary to establish robust bioelectronic interfaces between the brain and the peripheral organs.

Key points

  • The bidirectional crosstalk between the brain and visceral organs is essential to maintaining homeostasis, and is additionally implicated in neurological, metabolic and immune disorders.

  • Discovery of neural pathways underlying brain–organ communication may reveal targets for autonomic neuromodulation therapies and/or enable us to modulate brain function from the viscera.

  • Deciphering brain–body neural circuits is challenging, in part, owing to the lack of neurotechnology to enable multisite, multimodal investigation of brain and organ physiology in awake, behaving model organisms for extended periods of time.

  • Integration of multiple recording or stimulation modalities in a neural probe should not compromise device miniaturization, biocompatibility and mechanical flexibility to ensure reliable long-term function in vivo.

  • Besides the tissue-interfacing front-ends, equal consideration should be devoted to developing complete functional systems that include interconnects, encapsulation, control electronics, data-transfer protocols and power-delivery routes.

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Fig. 1: Device design must be guided by mechanical and anatomical features of the brain and organ systems.
Fig. 2: Overview of common neural interface modalities.
Fig. 3: Multifunctional probes for the brain.
Fig. 4: Bioelectronic devices for peripheral organs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (grant R01-NS115025 to P.A.), the Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute for Complementary and Integrative Health (grant DP1-AT011991 to P.A.) and the K. Lisa Yang Brain–Body Center at MIT (to P.A.). The authors thank J. Beckham, T. Cannon, P. Maretich and S. Selvaraji at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their valuable feedback on all aspects of this manuscript.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Atharva Sahasrabudhe, Claudia Cea.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. K. Lisa Yang Brain–Body Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Atharva Sahasrabudhe, Claudia Cea & Polina Anikeeva

  2. Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Atharva Sahasrabudhe, Claudia Cea & Polina Anikeeva

  3. McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Atharva Sahasrabudhe, Claudia Cea & Polina Anikeeva

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Polina Anikeeva

  5. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Polina Anikeeva

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A.S. and C.C. contributed equally to this manuscript.

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Sahasrabudhe, A., Cea, C. & Anikeeva, P. Multifunctional bioelectronics for brain–body circuits. Nat Rev Bioeng 3, 465–484 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-025-00289-3

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