Electric Field as Novel Neuronal Interface

描述(由申请人提供)： 外加电场可以用来调节神经元的S活动。尽管从无脊椎动物的研究中认识到了在神经假体设计中采用领域实施的优势，但该领域已经休耕了近十年。在过去的五年里，我们在这一领域取得了重大进展。在最近的论文中，我们已经证明了直流电场可以用来抑制或增强海马片中的癫痫样活动(GLuckman等人，1996a)，并且当适当地应用时，可以无限期地阻止癫痫发作(GLuckman等人，2001)。 使用电场与神经元网络相互作用的一个优点是，如果使用适当的仪器，它可以与正在进行的神经元活动测量同时进行。因此，反馈可以很容易地实现。但是，电场没有被研究的原因之一是，现成的测量和刺激电子设备不容易适应电场刺激的使用。此外，直到最近，还没有足够的电荷传递能力来产生持续电场的生物兼容电极材料。 该项目的目的是将我们现有的癫痫控制技术转化为慢性活体动物使用。这将需要设计一种仪器来同时用电场刺激和记录完整大脑中的神经元活动，建立电场刺激下生物兼容电极的安全界限，并开发和测试反馈癫痫控制算法。 所开发的仪器和方法将是一种基于电场刺激的新型神经元接口的原型。这样的接口将为新一代医疗设备治疗癫痫等脑部动态疾病奠定基础，为神经元假体提供接口，并为探测神经系统的复杂动力学提供大量新工具。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): An applied electric field can be used to modulate a neuron' s activity. Although the advantage of employing fields for implementation in the design of neural prosthetics was recognized from invertebrate research, the field lay fallow for nearly a decade. Over the past five years, we have moved this field forward significantly. In recent papers, we have demonstrated that a DC electric field could be used to suppress or enhance epileptiform activity in hippocampal slices (Gluckman, et al., 1996a), and, when applied adaptively, could turn off seizures indefinitely (Gluckman, et al., 2001). One advantage of using electric fields to interact with neuronal networks is that, if properly instrumented, it can be done simultaneously with ongoing measurement of neuronal activity. Therefore, feedback can be easily implemented. But, one of the reasons electric fields have not been pursued is that readily available measurement and stimulation electronics are not easily adaptable for use with electric field stimulation. In addition, until recently, biocompatible electrode materials with sufficient charge passing capacity to produce sustained electric fields were not available. The aims of this project are to translate our existing seizure control techniques for chronic in vivo animal use. This will require design of instrumentation for simultaneously stimulating with electric fields and recording neuronal activity in intact brain, to establish safety limits for biocompatible electrodes under electric field stimulation, and to develop and test feedback seizure control algorithms. The instrumentation and methods developed will be prototypes of a novel neuronal interface based on electric field stimulation. Such an interface would lay the groundwork for a new generation of medical devices to treat dynamical diseases of the brain such as epilepsy, to provide an interface for neuronal prosthetics, as well as provide an arsenal of new tools for probing the complex dynamics of neuronal systems.