Electro-Active Physiological Interface

描述(由申请人提供)：电生理记录提供了对正常和病理人脑功能的廉价和非侵入性监测。使用盐水海绵技术，可以在几分钟内应用密集的电极、128电极或256电极阵列，从而在急救和重症监护环境中记录脑电。然而，在要求苛刻的临床环境中进行脑电评估通常需要长期监测，目前的海绵-盐水电极技术在需要重新水化之前只提供2-3小时的可用脑电。长期记录可以通过使用传统的电极糊或胶水来完成，但在许多大脑监测可能有用的医疗环境中，不适和准备时间成为主要障碍。这个第一阶段的项目建议创造一种新型的相位可逆电生理传感器(PREPS)，使长期记录变得像我们的海绵盐水技术一样快速和舒适。PREPS是一种水凝胶，其粘度会因刺激(如电流或温度)而改变。基于我们有希望的试验数据，这个第一阶段项目将进行系统的可行性研究，以优化水凝胶的粘度，确定 使用PREPS技术，可实现具有电流和温度控制的相位可逆操作的实用范围，并实现皮肤粘合和皮肤保湿，从而产生高质量的扩展脑电监测。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Electrophysiologic recording provides inexpensive and non-invasive monitoring of both normal and pathological human brain function. With a saline-sponge technology, a dense array of 64, 128, or 256 electrodes can be applied in a few minutes, allowing electroencephalographic (EEG) recording in emergency and intensive care settings. However, EEG evaluations in demanding clinical settings often require long-term monitoring, and the current sponge-saline electrode technology provides usable EEG for only 2-3 hours before re-hydration is required. Long-term recordings can be accomplished by the use of conventional electrode pastes or glues, but the discomfort and preparation time become major impediments in many medical settings for which brain monitoring may be useful. This Phase I project proposes the creation of a novel Phase-Reversible Electro-Physiological Sensor (PREPS) that allows long-term recording to become as fast and comfortable as our sponge-saline technology. The PREPS is a hydrogel whose viscosity is changed by a stimulus (such as electrical current or temperature). Based on our promising pilot data, this Phase I project will perform systematic feasibility studies to optimize the viscosity of the hydrogel, determine practical ranges for phase-reversible operation with electrical current and temperature manipulations, and achieve both skin bonding and skin hydration to produce high quality extended EEG monitoring with the PREPS technology.