Engineering Development of a Multielectrode Array and Its Application to control of Foot and Ankle During Walking.

多微电极阵列被开发为一种工程工具，可以同时采样大量神经细胞的生理活动，无论是在大脑中还是在神经中。这种阵列提出了涉及制造、电连接接口、电子学多路复用和计算数据捕获的技术挑战。他们承诺对神经系统中的整个细胞组如何协调其活动以进行适当的感觉处理或运动行为的理解达到新的水平。例如，四足脊椎动物行走的神经机制非常复杂，涉及到几个不同肌肉群旋转的脚、脚踝、膝盖和臀部的感觉输入和运动输出的控制。行走控制提供了一个极好的系统，可以同时测试这个电极系统的工程能力，并发现如何利用感官输入进行多关节协调的原理。本项目使用新型陶瓷100电极阵列长期植入腿部坐骨神经，研究在不同步行速度和负荷下，感觉信息如何用于步行步态的运动调节。这项工作的结果不仅对理解感觉运动整合具有重要意义，而且对于进一步开发一种设备将非常有用，这种设备将非常有助于分析一般的大脑活动，以及具有巨大潜力的假肢工程设备帮助行走恢复，例如，脊髓损伤后。该项目还将对神经生物学家和工程师之间的跨学科培训产生影响。

Multiple-microelectrode arrays are being developed as engineering tools for sampling the physiological activity of large numbers of nerve cells at once, in the brain or in nerves. Such arrays present technological challenges involving fabrication, interfaces to electrical connections, multiplexing by electronics, and computational data capture. They promise new levels of understanding of how whole groups of cells in the nervous system coordinate their activity for appropriate sensory processing or motor behavior. For example, the neural mechanisms underlying walking in tetrapod vertebrates are highly complex, involving sensory input and control of motor output for several different muscle groups rotating foot, ankle, knee and hip. Control of walking provides an excellent system to simultaneously test the engineering capability of this electrode system, and to discover principles of how sensory input is used for multi-joint coordination. This project uses a novel ceramic 100-electrode array chronically implanted in the sciatic nerve of the leg to study how sensory information is used for motor regulation of the walking gait under different walking speeds and loads. Results from this work will be important not only for understanding sensorimotor integration, but for further development of a device that will be extremely useful in analyzing brain activity in general, as well as having great potential for prosthetic engineering devices to assist walking recovery, for example, after spinal cord injury. The project also will have an impact on cross-disciplinary training between neurobiologists and engineers.