MIT Media Lab, Center for Extreme Bionics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Nat Biomed Eng. 2022 Jun;6(6):731-740. doi: 10.1038/s41551-020-00669-7. Epub 2021 Feb 1.
Amputation destroys sensory end organs and does not provide an anatomical interface for cutaneous neuroprosthetic feedback. Here, we report the design and a biomechanical and electrophysiological evaluation of the cutaneous mechanoneural interface consisting of an afferent neural system that comprises a muscle actuator coupled to a natively pedicled skin flap in a cuff-like architecture. Muscle is actuated through electrical stimulation to induce strains or oscillatory vibrations on the skin flap that are proportional to a desired contact duration or contact pressure. In rat hindlimbs, the mechanoneural interface elicited native dermal mechanotransducers to generate at least four levels of graded contact and eight distinct vibratory afferents that were not significantly different from analogous mechanical stimulation of intact skin. The application of different patterns of electrical stimulation independently engaged slowly adapting and rapidly adapting mechanotransducers, and recreated an array of cutaneous sensations. The cutaneous mechanoneural interface can be integrated with current prosthetic technologies for tactile feedback.
截肢破坏了感觉终末器官，并且不能为皮肤神经假体反馈提供解剖学接口。在这里，我们报告了一种由传入神经系统组成的皮肤机械神经接口的设计，该系统包括一个肌肉致动器，该致动器与套状结构中的天然带蒂皮瓣耦合。通过电刺激来致动肌肉，从而在皮瓣上产生与期望的接触持续时间或接触压力成比例的应变或振荡振动。在大鼠后肢中，机械神经接口引发了天然的真皮机械换能器，产生了至少四个级别的分级接触和八个不同的振动传入神经，这些与完整皮肤的类似机械刺激没有显著差异。不同模式的电刺激的应用可以独立地激活缓慢适应和快速适应机械换能器，并再现一系列皮肤感觉。皮肤机械神经接口可以与当前的假肢技术集成，以实现触觉反馈。
