Assessment of the Factors Influencing the Recording Performance of Circumneural Electrodes.

The quality of recorded peripheral nerve signals is decisive for their application in therapies. The electroneurogram can be recorded via implantable circumeural electrodes that are wrapped around the peripheral nerve. The shape and amplitude of the signal recorded by the electrode are influenced by the design and contact configuration of the electrode. In this paper, the impact of the number of contacts, contact size and electrical insulation to the outside is investigated to predict the single fiber action potential based on the measured impedance data.

A novel method for recording neuronal depolarization with recording at 125-825 Hz: implications for imaging fast neural activity in the brain with electrical impedance tomography.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a recently developed medical imaging method which has the potential to produce images of fast neuronal depolarization in the brain. Previous modelling suggested that applied current needed to be below 100 Hz but the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) recorded with scalp electrodes during evoked responses was too low to permit imaging. A novel method in which contemporaneous evoked potentials are subtracted is presented with current applied at 225 Hz to cerebral cortex during evoked activity; although the signal is smaller than at DC by about 10×, the principal noise from the EEG is reduced by about 1000×, resulting in an improved SNR. It was validated with recording of compound action potentials in crab walking leg nerve where peak changes of -0.2% at 125 and 175 Hz tallied with biophysical modelling. In recording from rat cerebral cortex during somatosensory evoked responses, peak impedance decreases of -0.07 ± 0.006% (mean ± SE) with a SNR of >50 could be recorded at 225 Hz. This method provides a reproducible and artefact free means for recording resistance changes during neuronal activity which could form the basis for imaging fast neural activity in the brain.

Mechanical characterization of neural electrodes based on PDMS-parylene C-PDMS sandwiched system.

Manufacturing of neural electrodes based on metal foil and silicone rubber using a laser is a simple and promising method. A handicap of such electrode arrays is the mechanical robustness of the thin metal tracks that connect the electrode sites with the interconnection pads. Embedding of structured parylene C foil in silicone rubber turned out to be an interesting method to increase the robustness. Test samples with 12.5 µm thick platinum tracks and a 15 µm thick embedded and RIE-structured parylene C foil showed more than 800 % higher ultimate strength until breakage of the tracks. Different structured parylene C foil showed increasing robustness with increasing hole-spacing.

Advancements in electrode design and laser techniques for fabricating micro-electrode arrays as part of a retinal prosthesis.

Retinal micro-electrode arrays (MEAs) for a visual prosthesis were fabricated by laser structuring of platinum (Pt) foil and liquid silicone rubber. A new design was created using a folding technique to create a multi-layered array from a single Pt sheet. This method allowed a reduction in both the electrode pitch, and the overall width of the array, while maintaining coplanar connection points for more stable interconnections to other components of the system. The design also included a section which could be rolled to create a cylindrical segment in order to minimise the size of the exit in the sclera after implantation. A picosecond mode-locked 532 nm laser system was investigated as a replacement for the nanosecond Q-switched 1064 nm laser currently in use. Trials showed that the ps system could produce high quality electrode tracks with a minimum pitch of 30 µm, less than 40% the pitch achievable with the ns laser. A method was investigated for the cutting of Pt foils without damaging the underlying silicone by laser machining to a depth just below the thickness of the foil. Initial samples showed promise with full penetration of the foil only occurring at cross points of the laser paths. The ps laser was also used to create roughened surfaces, in order to increase the electrochemical surface area of the electrodes. Surfaces were imaged using a scanning electron microscope, and compared to surfaces roughened with the ns laser. The ps laser was seen to offer a reduction in feature size, as well as an increase in control over the appearance of the electrode surface.

Noise and selectivity of velocity-selective multi-electrode nerve cuffs.

Using a multi-electrode nerve-signal recording cuff and a method of signal processing described previously, activity in axons with different propagation velocities can be distinguished, and the relative amplitude of the small-fibre signals increased. This paper is, largely, an analysis of the selectivity and noise of this system though impedance measurements from an actual cuff are included. The signal processor includes narrow band-pass filters. It is shown that the selectivity and noise both increase with the centre frequencies of these filters. A convenient approach is to make the filter frequencies inversely related to the artificial time delays so that the filter 'Q's are approximately constant and the noise densities are equal for all velocity filters. Numerical calculations, using formulae for this system and for the conventional tripole, based on a fixed cuff size and tissue resistivity, find the number of action potentials per second that must pass through the cuff so that the signal power equals the noise power. For slow fibres (20 m/s), the rate is 14 times lower for the multi-electrode cuff than the tripole, a significant advantage for recording from these fibres.

Fabrication of implantable microelectrode arrays by laser cutting of silicone rubber and platinum foil.

A new method for fabrication of microelectrode arrays comprised of traditional implant materials is presented. The main construction principle is the use of spun-on medical grade silicone rubber as insulating substrate material and platinum foil as conductor (tracks, pads and electrodes). The silicone rubber and the platinum foil are patterned by laser cutting using an Nd:YAG laser and a microcontroller-driven, stepper-motor operated x-y table. The method does not require expensive clean room facilities and offers an extremely short design-to-prototype time of below 1 day. First prototypes demonstrate a minimal achievable feature size of about 30 microm.

Neural prostheses in clinical applications--trends from precision mechanics towards biomedical microsystems in neurological rehabilitation.

Neural prostheses partially restore body functions by technical nerve excitation after trauma or neurological diseases. External devices and implants have been developed since the early 1960s for many applications. Several systems have reached nowadays clinical practice: Cochlea implants help the deaf to hear, micturition is induced by bladder stimulators in paralyzed persons and deep brain stimulation helps patients with Parkinson's disease to participate in daily life again. So far, clinical neural prostheses are fabricated with means of precision mechanics. Since microsystem technology opens the opportunity to design and develop complex systems with a high number of electrodes to interface with the nervous systems, the opportunity for selective stimulation and complex implant scenarios seems to be feasible in the near future. The potentials and limitations with regard to biomedical microdevices are introduced and discussed in this paper. Target specifications are derived from existing implants and are discussed on selected applications that has been investigated in experimental research: a micromachined implant to interface a nerve stump with a sieve electrode, cuff electrodes with integrated electronics, and an epiretinal vision prosthesis.

Considerations on noise of electrodes in combination with amplifiers for bioelectrical signal recording.

Detection of weak bioelectrical signals needs a recording system with a very low system noise. In this paper, the noise of electrodes as well as the influence of different combinations of electrodes and amplifiers on the system noise was investigated. As a first result the electrodes noise is similar to the noise of a passive electronic part with the same impedance. For smaller electrodes a reduction of the electrode impedance will reduce the system noise, also for larger electrodes the electrode itself is not the dominant noise source, so that an improvement of the amplifier is the way to get a better system. A special amplifier was tested with iridium and platinum black electrodes of different sizes.

Selective stimulation of pig radial nerve: comparison of 12-polar and 18-polar cuff electrodes.

Aiming at the development of an implantable neuroprosthesis for restoration of hand function in tetraplegic patients (C5/C6), we examined and compared the stimulation performance of two different neural electrode designs. Our studies on the radial nerve of adult pigs proved the feasibility of selective control of different forearm muscles by using only one multichannel nerve cuff electrode. The results gained by applying a 12-polar cuff electrode design were poor, while the potential of an 18-polar design was very encouraging.

A biohybrid system to interface peripheral nerves after traumatic lesions: design of a high channel sieve electrode.

Peripheral nerve lesions lead to nerve degeneration and flaccid paralysis. The first objective in functional rehabilitation of these diseases should be the preservation of the neuro-muscular junction by biological means and following functional electrical stimulation (FES) may restore some function of the paralyzed limb. The combination of biological cells and technical microdevices to biohybrid systems might become a new approach in neural prosthetics research to preserve skeletal muscle function. In this paper, a microdevice for a biohybrid system to interface peripheral nerves after traumatic lesions is presented. The development of the microprobe design and the fabrication technology is described and first experimental results are given and afterwards discussed. The technical microprobe is designed in a way that meets the most important technical requirements: adaptation to the distal nerve stump, suitability to combine the microstructure with a containment for cells, and integrated microelectrodes as information transducers for cell stimulation and monitoring. Micromachining technologies were applied to fabricate a polyimide-based sieve-like microprobe with 19 substrate-integrated ring electrodes and a distributed counter electrode. Monolithic integration of fixation flaps and a three-dimensional shaping technology led to a device that might be adapted to nerve stumps with neurosurgical sutures in the epineurium. First experimental results of the durability of the shaping technology and electrochemical electrode properties were investigated. The three-dimensional shape remained quite stable after sterilization in an autoclave and chronic implantation. Electrode impedance was below 200 kOmega at 1 kHz which ought to permit recording of signals from nerves sprouting through the sieve holes.