A histological analysis of human median and ulnar nerves following implantation of Utah slanted electrode arrays
A histological analysis of human median and ulnar nerves following implantation of Utah slanted electrode arrays
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DOI：
10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.11.012
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发表时间：
2016-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
14
通讯作者：
Hutchinson, Douglas T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Christensen, Michael B.;Wark, Heather A. C.;Hutchinson, Douglas T.
几十年来，神经外膜电极已用于涉及刺激周围神经的临床治疗中。然而，用于诸如神经假体的应用的下一代外周神经接口将受益于选择性地刺激和记录神经组织的能力的增加。这种增加的选择性可能需要使用更具侵入性的器械，例如犹他州倾斜电极阵列（USEA）。之前的USEA研究描述了在猫和大鼠中植入这些器械的组织学反应;然而，尚未在人体中提供此类数据。因此，我们在此描述了在人体正中神经和尺神经中植入四周后USEA的渗透程度和异物反应。我们发现，目前的阵列设计穿透这些大神经中相对较小百分比的可用神经内膜组织。当电极尖端位于神经内膜组织内时，在电极附近发现轴突和髓鞘的标签。与其他报告一致，我们发现激活的巨噬细胞附着在植入器械上，以及植入部位周围的组织内。尽管有这种炎症反应，设备能够成功记录单个或多个单位的动作电位，并引起感官知觉。然而，修改器械设计以允许更大的神经穿透，以及减轻对此类器械的炎症反应，可能会提高器械性能，应在未来的研究中进行调查。(C)2015爱思唯尔有限公司版权所有。
For decades, epineurial electrodes have been used in clinical therapies involving the stimulation of peripheral nerves. However, next generation peripheral nerve interfaces for applications such as neuroprosthetics would benefit from an increased ability to selectively stimulate and record from nerve tissue. This increased selectivity may require the use of more invasive devices, such as the Utah Slanted Electrode Array (USEA). Previous research with USEAs has described the histological response to the implantation of these devices in cats and rats; however, no such data has been presented in humans. Therefore, we describe here the degree of penetration and foreign body reaction to USEAs after a four-week implantation period in human median and ulnar nerves. We found that current array designs penetrate a relatively small percentage of the available endoneurial tissue in these large nerves. When electrode tips were located within the endoneurial tissue, labels for axons and myelin were found in close proximity to electrodes. Consistent with other reports, we found activated macrophages attached to explanted devices, as well as within the tissue surrounding the implantation site. Despite this inflammatory response, devices were able to successfully record single- or multi-unit action potentials and elicit sensory percepts. However, modifying device design to allow for greater nerve penetration, as well as mitigating the inflammatory response to such devices, would likely increase device performance and should be investigated in future research. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.