Deakin University, School of Engineering, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Division of Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Feb 21;14(2):e0212554. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212554. eCollection 2019.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neuromodulatory approach for treatment of several neurological and psychiatric disorders. A new focus on optimising the waveforms used for stimulation is emerging regarding the mechanism of DBS treatment. Many existing DBS devices offer only a limited set of predefined waveforms, mainly rectangular, and hence are inapt for exploring the emerging paradigm. Advances in clinical DBS are moving towards incorporating new stimulation parameters, yet we remain limited in our capacity to test these in animal models, arguably a critical first step. Accordingly, there is a need for the development of new miniature, low-power devices to enable investigation into the new DBS paradigms in preclinical settings. The ideal device would allow for flexibility in the stimulation waveforms, while remaining suitable for chronic, tetherless, biphasic deep brain stimulation. In this work, we elucidate several key parameters in a DBS system, identify gaps in existing solutions, and propose a new device to support preclinical DBS. The device allows for a high degree of flexibility in the output waveform with easily altered shape, frequency, pulse-width and amplitude. The device is suitable for both traditional and modern stimulation schemes, including those using non-rectangular waveforms, as well as delayed feedback schemes. The device incorporates active charge balancing to ensure safe operation, and allows for simple production of custom biphasic waveforms. This custom waveform output is unique in the field of preclinical DBS devices, and could be advantageous in performing future DBS studies investigating new treatment paradigms. This tetherless device can be easily and comfortably carried by an animal in a back-mountable configuration. The results of in-vitro tests are presented and discussed.
脑深部刺激 (DBS) 是一种治疗多种神经和精神疾病的神经调节方法。目前，人们越来越关注优化用于刺激的波形，以了解 DBS 治疗的机制。许多现有的 DBS 设备仅提供有限的预定义波形集，主要是矩形波，因此不适合探索新兴的范例。临床 DBS 的进展正在朝着纳入新的刺激参数的方向发展，但我们在动物模型中测试这些参数的能力仍然有限，这可以说是一个关键的第一步。因此，需要开发新的微型、低功耗设备，以便在临床前环境中研究新的 DBS 范例。理想的设备应允许刺激波形具有灵活性，同时仍然适合慢性、无绳、双相脑深部刺激。在这项工作中，我们阐明了 DBS 系统中的几个关键参数，确定了现有解决方案中的差距，并提出了一种新的设备来支持临床前 DBS。该设备允许输出波形具有高度的灵活性，形状、频率、脉冲宽度和幅度易于改变。该设备适用于传统和现代刺激方案，包括使用非矩形波形的方案以及延迟反馈方案。该设备采用主动电荷平衡来确保安全运行，并允许简单地生成定制的双相波形。这种定制的波形输出在临床前 DBS 设备领域是独一无二的，在进行未来的 DBS 研究以探索新的治疗范例时可能具有优势。这种无绳设备可以以背载式配置轻松舒适地由动物携带。本文呈现并讨论了体外测试的结果。
