[Generated for Academic Purposes] Journal: Journal of Neural Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Volume: 12, Issue: 4, Date: December 2016

Optogenetic Reanimation: Harnessing 2016’s Breakthrough in Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Prior to 2016, nerve stimulation was limited by the physics of metal electrodes—they activate axons based on size (large myelinated fibers first, reversing Henneman’s size principle). Optogenetics flipped this: by expressing ChR2 only in motor neurons, the 2016 study achieved that physical electrodes could never match.