Microneedle cuff electrodes for extrafascicular peripheral nerve interfacing

OBJECTIVE The work presented here describes a new tool for peripheral nerve interfacing, called the microneedle cuff (μN-cuff) electrode. APPROACH μN arrays are designed and integrated into cuff electrodes for penetrating superficial tissues while remaining non-invasive to delicate axonal tracts. MAIN RESULTS In acute testing, the presence of 75 μm height μNs decreased the electrode-tissue interface impedance by 0.34 kΩ, resulting in a 0.9 mA reduction in functional stimulation thresholds and increased the signal-to-noise ratio by 9.1 dB compared to standard (needle-less) nerve cuff electrodes. Preliminary acute characterization suggests that μN-cuff electrodes provide the stability and ease of use of standard cuff electrodes while enhancing electrical interfacing characteristics. SIGNIFICANCE The ability to stimulate, block, and record peripheral nerve activity with greater specificity, resolution, and fidelity can enable more precise spatiotemporal control and measurement of neural circuits.

[1]  J T Mortimer,et al.  Stability of the input-output properties of chronically implanted multiple contact nerve cuff stimulating electrodes. , 1998, IEEE transactions on rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[2]  J. Holsheimer,et al.  Position-selective activation of peripheral nerve fibers with a cuff electrode , 1996, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[3]  H. J. Gamble,et al.  AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDY OF THE CONNECTIVE TISSUES OF HUMAN PERIPHERAL NERVE. , 1964, Journal of anatomy.

[4]  Johannes F de Boer,et al.  Extracting structural features of rat sciatic nerve using polarization-sensitive spectral domain optical coherence tomography. , 2012, Journal of biomedical optics.

[5]  M. Keith,et al.  Human Nerve Stimulation Thresholds and Selectivity Using a Multi-contact Nerve Cuff Electrode , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[6]  Warren M Grill,et al.  High-resolution measurement of electrically-evoked vagus nerve activity in the anesthetized dog , 2013, Journal of neural engineering.

[7]  Jian Zhang,et al.  Longitudinally implanted intrafascicular electrodes for stimulating and recording fascicular physioelectrical signals in the sciatic nerve of rabbits , 2003, Microsurgery.

[8]  G. E. Loeb,et al.  Cuff electrodes for chronic stimulation and recording of peripheral nerve activity , 1996, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[9]  Thomas Pk,et al.  The connective tissue of peripheral nerve: an electron microscope study. , 1963 .

[10]  R. Stein,et al.  Selective stimulation of cat sciatic nerve using an array of varying-length microelectrodes. , 2001, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  Martin Schuettler,et al.  Fibre-selective recording from the peripheral nerves of frogs using a multi-electrode cuff , 2013, Journal of neural engineering.

[12]  Yogi A. Patel,et al.  Differential fiber-specific block of nerve conduction in mammalian peripheral nerves using kilohertz electrical stimulation. , 2015, Journal of neurophysiology.