McCarthy Patrick T, Madangopal Rajtarun, Otto Kevin J, Rao Masaru P
Mechanical Engineering Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 USA.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2009;2009:2062-5. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5334429.
Micro-scale brain-machine interface (BMI) devices have provided an opportunity for direct probing of neural function and have also shown significant promise for restoring neurological functions lost to stroke, injury, or disease. However, the eventual clinical translation of such devices may be hampered by limitations associated with the materials commonly used for their fabrication, e.g. brittleness of silicon, insufficient rigidity of polymeric devices, and unproven chronic biocompatibility of both. Herein, we report, for the first time, the development of titanium-based "Michigan" type multi-channel, microelectrode arrays that seek to address these limitations. Titanium provides unique properties of immediate relevance to microelectrode arrays, such as high toughness, moderate modulus, and excellent biocompatibility, which may enhance structural reliability, safety, and chronic recording reliability. Realization of these devices is enabled by recently developed techniques which provide the opportunity for fabrication of high aspect ratio micromechanical structures in bulk titanium substrates. Details regarding the design, fabrication, and characterization of these devices for eventual use in rat auditory cortex and thalamus recordings are presented, as are preliminary results.
微型脑机接口（BMI）设备为直接探究神经功能提供了契机，并且在恢复因中风、损伤或疾病而丧失的神经功能方面也展现出巨大潜力。然而，这类设备最终的临床应用可能会受到其制造常用材料相关局限性的阻碍，例如硅的脆性、聚合物设备刚性不足以及两者长期生物相容性未经证实等问题。在此，我们首次报道了旨在解决这些局限性的钛基“密歇根”型多通道微电极阵列的研发情况。钛具备与微电极阵列直接相关的独特性能，如高韧性、适中的模量以及出色的生物相容性，这可能会增强结构可靠性、安全性和长期记录可靠性。最近开发的技术为在块状钛基板中制造高深宽比微机械结构提供了机会，从而实现了这些设备。本文介绍了这些最终用于大鼠听觉皮层和丘脑记录的设备的设计、制造和表征细节以及初步结果。
