Carbon Nanotube Nanoelectrode Array/Deep Brain Stimulation & Electrochemical Reco

描述（由申请人提供）：许多常见的神经系统疾病可能可以使用采用精确、受控电记录（用于定位）和/或精确、受控电刺激（用于调节）的技术进行治疗。一个例子是用于运动障碍（例如影响100万美国人的帕金森病）的脑深部电刺激（DBS）。DBS目前正在进行临床试验，用于治疗顽固性癫痫、抑郁症和饮食失调等疾病。当干细胞植入和其他形式的移植方法达到临床实用性时，脑内的精确定位也将是必不可少的。 纳米电极提供了显著提高我们定位特定区域的能力的可能性（1）（亚核）的大脑，与永久植入的好处（这在使用当前微电极的临床情况下是不可行的），（2）刺激特定区域（亚核）的大脑比目前的宏电极可能的精确得多，以及（3）使用基于纳米电极阵列的原位电化学方法，以纳摩尔灵敏度和毫秒时间分辨率监测或记录局部环境（神经递质水平，例如多巴胺和谷氨酸），但干扰最小。长期目标是建立一个永久植入的闭环系统，其中神经递质水平和局部脑电活动的监测指导局部脑刺激（神经调节）。 拟议的工作涉及纳米电极阵列的开发，专门用于精确，永久植入，局部大脑记录电活动和神经递质水平以及刺激。在对已经开发的200 μ m纳米电极阵列进行额外的改进和实验室测试之后，所提出的研究利用细胞培养物、脑组织切片和帕金森病的标准小动物模型来测试原型纳米电极阵列。这项研究计划扩展并整合了NASA艾姆斯研究中心纳米技术和智能系统小组迄今为止所做的工作：（1）纳米电极制造和应用于超灵敏生物传感器的开发，以及（2）使用多个微传感器和神经网络进行实时组织识别，以确定大脑组织（正常和异常）和区域（亚核）的独特“签名”。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many common disorders of the nervous system are potentially treatable using techniques that employ precise, controlled electrical recording (for localization) and/or precise, controlled electrical stimulation (for modulation). An example is deep brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders (e.g. Parkinson's disease, which affects 1 million Americans). DBS is currently in clinical trials for conditions such as intractable epilepsy, depression, and eating disorders. Precise localization within the brain will also be essential for implantation of stem cells and other forms of transplantation when such methods reach clinical usefulness. Nanoelectrodes offer the possibility of improving significantly our ability (1) to localize specific regions (subnuclei) of the brain, with the benefit of permanent implantation (which is not feasible in clinical situations with current microelectrodes), (2) to stimulate specific regions (subnuclei) of the brain much more precisely than is possible with current macroelectrodes, and (3) to monitor or record the local environments (neurotransmitter levels, e.g. dopamine and glutamate) with nanomolar sensitivity and millisecond temporal resolution yet with minimum disturbance using in situ electrochemical methods based on nanoelectrode arrays. The long-term goal is to establish a permanently-implanted closed-loop system where the monitoring of neurotransmitter levels and local brain electrical activity guides the local brain stimulation (neuromodulation). The proposed work involves the development of nanoelectrode arrays specifically for precise, permanently implanted, local brain recording of electrical activity and neurotransmitter levels as well as stimulation. Following additional refinement and laboratory testing of 200 #m nanoelectrode arrays already developed, the porposed research utilizes cell cultures, brain tissue slices, and a standard small animal model of Parkinson's disease to test the prototype nanoelectrode arrays. This research plan extends and integrates the work done to date by the Nanotechnology and Smart Systems groups at NASA Ames Research Center: (1) nanoelectrode fabrication and application to the development of ultrasensitive biosensors, and (2) real-time tissue recognition using multiple microsensors and neural networks to determine a unique "signature" for both tissues (normal and abnormal) and regions (subnuclei) of the brain.