Advanced Electrical Stimulation Technology for Neuroprostheses and Neuromodulation Applications

神经调节是一种将电刺激应用于大脑不同部位的干预，并通过这样做来治疗不同的大脑疾病。例如，帕金森氏病的症状可以通过电刺激丘脑底核或苍白球中的神经元回路来完全抑制。类似地，通过电刺激上肢肌肉产生的重复的伸手和抓握动作可以帮助重新训练中风和脊髓损伤患者的大脑，以重新学习如何自己伸手和抓握物体。目前在神经调节应用中使用的电刺激器提供了有限的机会来实时改变刺激参数。实际上不可能将闭环配置中的传感器与现有的刺激器连接以基于感觉输入来调节它们的输出。然而，有新的证据表明，通过引入闭环控制能力，可以开发新的和更复杂的神经调节疗法。

Neuromodulation is an intervention that applies electrical stimulation to different parts of the brain, and by doing so treats different diseases of the brain. For example, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease can be completely supressed by electrically stimulating neuronal circuits in the subthalamic nucleus or globus pallidus. Similarly, repeated reaching and grasping movements that are produced by electrically stimulating upper limb muscles, can help retrain the brain of stroke and spinal cord injury patients to relearn how to reach and grasp objects on their own. The electrical stimulators that are presently used in neuromodulation applications offer limited opportunities to alter the stimulation parameters in real-time. It is virtually impossible to connect sensors in closed-loop configuration with the existing stimulators to regulate their outputs based on sensory inputs. Yet, there is emerging evidence that by introducing close-loop control capabilities new and more sophisticated neuromodulation therapies could be developed.