Commercializing digital wireless telemetry: the animal epilepsy monitoring unit

描述(申请人提供)：Bio-Signal Group Corp.开发了一种微型、电池供电、多通道、便携式数字遥测系统，用于记录宽带生物电信号。DT以高精度测量生物电势，因为它以24位分辨率数字化受试者的信号。也许DT与其他遥测系统最明显的区别是DT被设计成记录快慢脑电位，如动作电位(AP；0.3-6 kHz)和局部场电位(LFP)振荡，范围从0.1到500赫兹。使用DT的无线数据传输在几乎任何环境中都可以稳定地传输到10米。一对2.4Ghz收发信机保证了1.536 Mb/S的数据速率。DT的通信系统对其传输的数字数据的来源没有限制。包含1.536 Mb/S的数据可以由微处理器以任何方式排列。与模拟解决方案相比，DT在评估信号保真度、提供纠错和避免传输过程中的信号失真方面具有优势(模拟传输非常困难)。与竞争的模拟系统相比的一个关键优势是，数字信号处理可以在数据从对象传输之前在信号源进行。这项创新意味着数据可以被优化、压缩和传输，而不会失真。在第一阶段，BSG证明了使用DT在实验室中对自由活动的大鼠进行电生理记录的可行性。我们展示了2，4和8通道的原型设备，并仔细收集了296名神经科学家的反馈，这些科学家在最近三次神经科学学会(SFN)会议上参观了展览。这一反馈帮助确定了DT记录实验动物自发癫痫发作的特殊需求。正在为这一第二阶段项目提出建立商业交钥匙动物癫痫监测单元所需的具体技术开发。在第二阶段，我们将：1)将发射机阶段小型化；2)优化发射机阶段，以便进行密集和并行记录；3)使电生理数据与数字视频记录同步；以及4)创建软件，用于分析使用AEMU后产生的大型数据库。公共卫生相关性：了解癫痫相当于了解大脑的电活动和自发发作之间的详细关系。该项目将创建一个动物癫痫监测单元(AEMU)，使研究人员能够记录有自发癫痫发作的实验室动物的自发大脑活动。AEMU将允许在动物的家庭环境中进行无限期的长时间记录，还将创建软件来分析大型信息数据库，以帮助揭示可能预测癫痫发作事件并最终在临床治疗中控制发作的关键生理机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Bio-Signal Group Corp. developed a miniature, battery-operated, multi-channel, portable digital telemetry system to record wideband bioelectric signals. DT measures biopotentials with high precision because it digitizes signals on the subject at 24-bit resolution. Perhaps the most obvious feature that distinguishes the DT from other telemetric systems is the DT is designed to record both fast and slow brain potentials such as action potentials (AP; 0.3-6kHz) and local field potential (LFP) oscillations that range from 0.1 to 500 Hz. Wireless data transmission with DT is robust up to 10 m in virtually any environment. A pair of 2.4 GHz transceivers guarantees a data rate of 1.536 Mb/s. The communication system of DT has no constraints on the origin of the digital data it transmits. The data comprising the 1.536 Mb/s can be arranged in any way by the microprocessor (MCU). DT has advantages over analog solutions for assessing signal fidelity, providing error correction and avoiding signal distortion during transmission (very difficult with analog transmission). A key advantage over competing analog systems is digital signal processing can occur at the signal source before the data are transmitted from the subject. The innovation means data can be optimized, compressed, and transmitted free of distortion. In Phase I, BSG demonstrated the feasibility of using DT to make electrophysiological recordings from freely-moving rats in the laboratory. We exhibited 2,4 and 8-ch prototype devices and meticulously gathered feedback from 296 neuroscientists who visited the exhibit at the last three Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meetings. This feedback helped identify a specific need for DT to record spontaneous seizures in laboratory animals. The specific technical developments required to create a commercial turn-key animal epilepsy monitoring unit (aEMU) are being proposed for this Phase II project. In Phase II we will: 1) miniaturize the transmitter stage; 2) optimize the transmitter stage for dense and parallel recordings; 3) synchronize the electrophysiological data with digital video recording; and 4) create software for analysis of the large database that will emerge from use of the aEMU. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Understanding epilepsy amounts to understanding the detailed relationship between the electrical activity of the brain and the spontaneous occurrence of seizures. This project will create an animal epilepsy monitoring unit (aEMU) to allow researchers to record spontaneous brain activity in laboratory animals that have spontaneous seizures. The aEMU will permit indefinitely long recordings in the animal's home environment, and software will also be created for analyzing the large database of information to help reveal key physiological mechanisms that may predict seizure events and ultimately lead to their control in clinical treatments.