Flexible neural probe arrays for large-scale cortical and subcortical recording

可植入神经电极已经有了几十年的发展，但记录 随着时间的推移，可分辨的神经元活动通常会减少或完全消失。无论如何，这都是正确的 在动物中记录寿命从几个月到最多几年的物种；尽管选择了神经探针 已经在人类身上成功实现，记录寿命很短(&lt；5年)。克服困难 今天植入技术的局限性可能会给未来神经假体的设计带来革命性的变化 平台，这反过来将对多种神经科的医疗产生深远的影响 使用脑机接口的疾病。 这项提议的目标是实现长时间的大规模录音。要实现 稳定、长期的神经元接口，我们将采用多管齐下的方法，涉及聚合物的创新 微机械加工与集成与封装及固体力学原理和应用 光束理论。多层次聚合物微加工将使单电极两侧的电极密度更高 专门用于布线的面积最小的杆件。多个小腿将由一个底板连接，底板包括 已通过嵌入式应用建立了电连接的带状电缆 专用集成电路(ASIC)芯片。该芯片包含提供信号放大和 多路复用；后者将极大地减少外部接线的数量，从而减少占用空间 整体植入物所需的。通过利用小腿的刚度随着长度的减小而增加 和可生物降解的聚合物，裸露的探针和探针阵列的深度植入将在没有 使用现有的加强筋方法，将横截面直径增加数量级。 合作团队由生物医学工程师组成，他们在微制造方面拥有专门的专业知识 植入式系统、电路专家和具有神经工程专业知识的生物医学工程师 海马体假体。我们将共同发展探头阵列技术，实现 微电子电路。此外，新的探头阵列系统将在大鼠身上演示收集 海马区电生理记录及与金标准的比较 微丝阵列植入物。这些研究将得到组织学分析的补充。

Implantable neural electrodes have enjoyed decades of development but the ability to record resolvable neuronal activities is often reduced or completely lost over time. This is true regardless of species with recording lifetimes of months to at best a few years in animal; although select neural probes have been successfully implemented in human, the recording lifetimes are short (<5 years). Overcoming the limitations of today’s implant technologies could revolutionize the design of future neural prosthetic platforms, which in turn, would have a profound impact on the medical treatment of multiple neurological disorders using brain-machine interfaces. The goal of this proposal is to achieve large scale recordings over long periods of time. To achieve a stable, long-term neuronal interface, we will use a multi-pronged approach involving innovation in polymer micromachining and integration and packaging and the application of principles of solid mechanics and beam theory. Multi-level polymer micromachining will enable high electrode density on both sides of single shanks with minimal area dedicated to wiring. Multiple shanks will be connected by a backplane consisting of a ribbon cable into which electrical connectivity has been established with an embedded application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip. The chip contains circuits that provide signal amplification and multiplexing; the latter will greatly reduce the number of external wire connections and thus the footprint required for the overall implant. By leveraging the increase in stiffness of a shank as length decreases and biodegradable polymers, deep implantation of bare probes and probe arrays will be realized without the use of existing stiffener approaches that increase the cross sectional diameter by orders of magnitude. The collaborative team consists of biomedical engineer with specific expertise in microfabrication of implantable systems, a circuit expert, and a biomedical engineer with expertise in neural engineering of hippocampal prostheses. Together, we will develop the probe array technology and achieve integration of microelectronic circuits. In addition, the new probe array system will be demonstrated in rat to collect electrophysiological recordings in the hippocampus and compared to the performance of gold standard microwire array implants. These studies will be complemented by histological analysis.