Wang Jiahui, Wang Hao, Lee Chengkuo
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore.
Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE), National University of Singapore, 28 Medical Drive, #05-COR, Singapore, 117456, Singapore.
Adv Biosyst. 2019 Jul;3(7):e1800281. doi: 10.1002/adbi.201800281. Epub 2019 May 7.
Wearable and implantable devices are irreplaceable components in the modern healthcare system. Electrical stimulation on the nervous and neuromuscular system, as a way of therapeutic interventions, has been widely applied to people with neurological disorders and neuromuscular disabilities. The conventional way to study electrical stimulation on the skeletal muscle employs single-channel wire electrodes, which have limited capability to explore the complicated motoneuron distribution in muscle tissue. Here, a microfabricated flexible multiple-channel intramuscular electrode is presented, which enables the study of electrical stimulation using electrode sites of different spatial arrangements with respect to the motoneuron distribution. Observations are reported on slow disturbance on motoneuron excitability induced by large-distance electrodes targeting at the end motor nerves, as well as fast disturbance induced by small-distance electrodes targeting at the main motor nerve trunk. The phenomena of slow and fast disturbance have different potential applications in the field of neuromodulation. In the case of slow disturbance, force output is predictable and shows gradual change, which is suitable for accurately controlled functional electrical stimulation (FES). For fast disturbance, the disappearance of force output opens the possibility for muscle conduction block applications, which can be used for treatment of muscle sparsity by blocking the involuntary motor intentions.
可穿戴和可植入设备是现代医疗保健系统中不可替代的组成部分。对神经和神经肌肉系统进行电刺激作为一种治疗干预方式，已被广泛应用于患有神经系统疾病和神经肌肉残疾的人群。传统上研究骨骼肌电刺激的方法采用单通道线状电极，其探索肌肉组织中复杂运动神经元分布的能力有限。在此，我们展示了一种微加工的柔性多通道肌内电极，它能够利用相对于运动神经元分布具有不同空间排列的电极位点来研究电刺激。报告了针对终末运动神经的远距离电极引起的运动神经元兴奋性的缓慢干扰，以及针对主运动神经干的近距离电极引起的快速干扰的观察结果。缓慢和快速干扰现象在神经调节领域具有不同的潜在应用。在缓慢干扰的情况下，力输出是可预测的且呈现逐渐变化，这适用于精确控制的功能性电刺激（FES）。对于快速干扰，力输出的消失为肌肉传导阻滞应用开辟了可能性，可用于通过阻断非自愿运动意图来治疗肌肉萎缩。
