MICROMACHINED STIMULATING MICROELECTRODE ARRAYS

微机械刺激微电极阵列

• 批准号: 6041601
• 负责人: KENSALL D WISE
• 金额: $ 54.42万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-03-01 至 2002-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6041601
• 关键词: auditory nuclei; biomedical equipment development; brain electronic stimulator; clinical biomedical equipment; cochlear implants; electronic stimulator; implant; lumbosacral region; microelectrodes; miniature biomedical equipment; molecular film; spinal cord; telemetry; visual cortex

Many potential neural prostheses, including visual, auditory, and motor prostheses, will not be feasible until microelectrode arrays are developed that allow multiple, small clusters of neurons to be independently stimulated. This project will involve research and development on thin-film microelectrode arrays capable of independently stimulating as many as 512 such small clusters of cells. Specifically, these microelectrode arrays are being designed to provide microstimulation at multiple sites in the visual cortex, the cochlear nucleus and the lumbrosacral spinal cord. Micromachining of silicon, combined with integration of electronic circuits on the micromachined structure, permits fabrication of active circuit microelectrodes with multiple stimulating sites on multiple shanks. Microelectrode arrays currently under development have 64 stimulation sites placed along 8 or 16 penetrating shanks. These 64-site, two-dimensional microelectrode arrays can be assembled into a 3-dimensional array with 512 stimulating sites. These thin- film stimulating microelectrodes have several advantages over more conventional wire bundle microelectrodes for multiple site, highly selective stimulation. Their stimulating site density is at least an order of magnitude greater than wire bundle electrodes and permits stimulation site spacing with dimensions comparable to the dimensions of neurons. The designs provide circuitry which permits extracorporeally generated stimulus instructions for many neural stimulating sites to be combined into a single signal and then decoded by integrated electronics on the implant. The integrated electronics also permit the arrays to be designed with integrated telemetry, eliminating the need for tethering cables.

许多潜在的神经假体，包括视觉、听觉和运动假体，将无法实现，直到微电极阵列被开发出来，允许多个小神经元簇被独立刺激。该项目将涉及薄膜微电极阵列的研究和开发，该阵列能够独立刺激多达512个这样的小细胞簇。具体来说，这些微电极阵列被设计用于在视觉皮层、耳蜗核和腰骶脊髓的多个部位提供微刺激。硅的微加工，结合在微加工结构上集成的电子电路，允许在多个柄上制造具有多个刺激位点的有源电路微电极。目前正在开发的微电极阵列有64个刺激点，放置在8或16个穿透柄上。这些64位的二维微电极阵列可以组装成具有512个刺激位点的三维阵列。这些薄膜刺激微电极在多部位、高选择性刺激方面比传统的丝束微电极有几个优点。它们的刺激位点密度至少比导线束电极大一个数量级，并允许刺激位点的间距与神经元的尺寸相当。这种设计提供了一种电路，允许体外产生的刺激指令对许多神经刺激部位进行组合，形成一个单一的信号，然后由植入物上的集成电子设备解码。集成电子设备还允许阵列设计集成遥测，消除了对系绳电缆的需要。