Characterization of signal propagation in neuronal systems for nanomachine-to-neurons communications

In the next decade nanocommunications will have great impact on biomedical engineering applications, for example in the view of allowing rehabilitation of patients which suffer for irreversible damage to the vertebral column. In such a case, the impossibility to move caused by an interruption in the propagation of nervous impulses, could be solved by exploiting nanomachines that employ the same communication paradigm of neurons to interact with them, thus allowing signal propagation across the body critical area. Accordingly, in this paper we perform a characterization and provide a model of the signal propagation between two entities which use a neuronal paradigm of communication, e.g. two neurons or a neuron and a nanomachine, so as to derive expressions of the transfer function, gain and delay incurred during the transmission. This could allow to design nanomachines compatible with the biological structures and able to integrate and substitute them when needed.