Pak Nikita, Siegle Joshua H, Kinney Justin P, Denman Daniel J, Blanche Timothy J, Boyden Edward S
Media Lab and McGovern Institute, Departments of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and.
Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, Washington.
J Neurophysiol. 2015 Jun 1;113(10):3943-53. doi: 10.1152/jn.01055.2014. Epub 2015 Apr 8.
A large array of neuroscientific techniques, including in vivo electrophysiology, two-photon imaging, optogenetics, lesions, and microdialysis, require access to the brain through the skull. Ideally, the necessary craniotomies could be performed in a repeatable and automated fashion, without damaging the underlying brain tissue. Here we report that when drilling through the skull a stereotypical increase in conductance can be observed when the drill bit passes through the skull base. We present an architecture for a robotic device that can perform this algorithm, along with two implementations--one based on homebuilt hardware and one based on commercially available hardware--that can automatically detect such changes and create large numbers of precise craniotomies, even in a single skull. We also show that this technique can be adapted to automatically drill cranial windows several millimeters in diameter. Such robots will not only be useful for helping neuroscientists perform both small and large craniotomies more reliably but can also be used to create precisely aligned arrays of craniotomies with stereotaxic registration to standard brain atlases that would be difficult to drill by hand.
大量神经科学技术，包括体内电生理学、双光子成像、光遗传学、损伤研究和微透析，都需要通过颅骨进入大脑。理想情况下，必要的开颅手术应以可重复和自动化的方式进行，而不会损伤下面的脑组织。在此我们报告，当钻头穿过颅底时，在钻透颅骨的过程中可以观察到电导率有典型的增加。我们提出了一种用于机器人设备的架构，该架构可以执行此算法，同时还介绍了两种实现方式——一种基于自制硬件，另一种基于商用硬件——它们可以自动检测此类变化并创建大量精确的开颅手术，即使是在单个颅骨上。我们还表明，该技术可以适用于自动钻出直径为几毫米的颅骨窗口。这样的机器人不仅有助于神经科学家更可靠地进行大小不同的开颅手术，还可用于创建与标准脑图谱立体定位对齐的精确排列的开颅手术阵列，而手工钻制这些阵列会很困难。
