An array of microactuated microelectrodes for monitoring single-neuronal activity in rodents
An array of microactuated microelectrodes for monitoring single-neuronal activity in rodents
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DOI：
10.1109/tbme.2005.851478
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发表时间：
2005-08-01
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Jain, T
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Muthuswamy, J;Okandan, M;Jain, T
用于监测单神经元和多神经元动作电位的微电极阵列由于若干技术和生物学原因常常不能在一段时间内记录来自同一神经元群体的动作电位。我们在这里报告了一种新型的神经探针芯片，具有3通道微驱动微电极阵列，该阵列将使植入后脑组织内的单个微电极能够精确重新定位。神经探针芯片中的热微致动器和相关联的微电极使用Sandia的超平面多级MEMS技术（SUMMiTV）工艺进行微制造，该工艺是Sandia国家实验室（阿尔伯克基，NM）的5层多晶硅微加工技术。Neural Probe芯片可实现微电极在大脑中的精确双向定位，步进分辨率约为8.8 μ m。热微致动器允许微电极在任一方向上线性平移高达5 mm，使其适合于将微电极定位在啮齿动物大脑的深层结构中。在用环氧树脂绝缘微电极以监测多单元活性后，任一方向上的总体平移减少至约2 mm。从成年大鼠的躯体感觉皮层获得了超过三天的单单位记录，证明了该技术的可行性。在慢性实验中验证该技术之前，需要进一步优化微电极绝缘和芯片封装。
Arrays of microelectrodes used for monitoring single- and multi-neuronal action potentials often fail to record from the same population of neurons over a period of time for several technical and biological reasons. We report here a novel Neural Probe chip with a 3-channel microactuated microelectrode array that will enable precise repositioning of the individual microelectrodes within the brain tissue after implantation. Thermal microactuators and associated microelectrodes in the Neural Probe chip are microfabricated using the Sandia's Ultraplanar Multi-level MEMS Technology (SUMMiTV) process, a 5-layer polysilicon micromachining technology of the Sandia National labs, Albuquerque, NM. The Neural Probe chip enables precise bi-directional positioning of the microelectrodes in the brain with a step resolution in the order of 8.8 mu m. The thermal microactuators allow for a linear translation of the microelectrodes of up to 5 mm in either direction making it suitable for positioning microelectrodes in deep structures of a rodent brain. The overall translation in either direction was reduced to approximately 2 mm after insulation of the microelectrodes with epoxy for monitoring multi-unit activity. Single unit recordings were obtained from the somatosensory cortex of adult rats over a period of three days demonstrating the feasibility of this technology. Further optimization of the microelectrode insulation and chip packaging will be necessary before this technology can be validated in chronic experiments.