Multi-Channel Electrochemical Measurement System

描述(由申请人提供)：我们正在申请购买多通道电化学测量系统的资金。神经刺激和记录电极是许多植入式设备的主要组成部分。例子包括利用电神经刺激来克服听力损失的人工耳蜗和中枢听觉假体，以及用脑深部刺激来缓解帕金森氏症的运动症状。电极的性能是临床设备和临床前动物研究质量控制的一个重要方面。亨廷顿医学研究所的几位首席研究人员和他们的合作者正在进行NIH资助的项目，使用可植入电极，以开发中央听觉假体，以及先进的深部大脑和脊髓刺激器。提出的最先进的、真正的多通道测量系统允许同时和独立地进行多个测量通道，在一个阵列内或在单独的阵列中具有多达16个电极。在记录和刺激电极的制造过程中，该系统预计将电镀高充电容量电极材料所需的时间和劳动力减少16倍。当用于表征长期植入动物体内的电极时，所请求的仪器还将把麻醉持续时间缩短16倍，并可能充分加快这些过程，以便在某些情况下不需要麻醉。这将降低这些珍贵动物的死亡或医疗并发症的风险。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We are requesting funding for the purchase of a Multi-channel Electrochemical Measurement System. Neural stimulating and recording electrodes are a major component of many implantable devices. Examples include cochlear implants and central auditory prostheses which utilize electrical neural stimulations to overcome hearing loss, and deep brain stimulation to relieve the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The properties of the electrodes are an important aspect of quality control both for clinical devices and in pre-clinical animal studies. Several principal investigators at Huntington Medical Research Institutes and their collaborators are conducting NIH-funded projects using implantable electrodes, in order to develop central auditory prosthesis, and advanced deep brain and spinal cord stimulators. The proposed, state-of-the-art, true multichannel measurement system allows for multiple channels of measurements to be conducted simultaneously and independently, with up to sixteen electrodes within one array or in separate arrays. The system is expected to reduce, by a factor of sixteen, the time and labor required for the electroplating of high-charge capacity electrode material, during the fabrication of recording and stimulation electrodes. When used to characterize electrodes implanted chronically into animals, the requested instrument will also reduce the duration of anesthesia by a factor of sixteen, and may sufficiently expedite these procedures such that in some instances anesthesia will not be required. This will reduce the risk of death or medical complication for these valuable animals.