Department of Neurobiology and Department of Neurosurgery of Second Affiliated Hospital, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Education Ministry, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, China; NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Research and Brain Machine Integration, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, China.
Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology, Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Kaixuan Road 258th, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310020, China.
Biomaterials. 2022 Feb;281:121352. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.121352. Epub 2021 Dec 30.
Though commonly used, metal electrodes are incompatible with brain tissues, often leading to injury and failure to achieve long-term implantation. Here we report a subdural neural interface of hydrogel functioning as an ionic conductor, and elastomer as a dielectric. We demonstrate that it incurs a far less glial reaction and less cerebrovascular destruction than a metal electrode. Using a cat model, the hydrogel electrode was able to record electrical signals comparably in quality to a metal electrode. The hydrogel-elastomer neural interface also readily facilitated multimodal functions. Both the hydrogel and elastomer are transparent, enabling in vivo optical microscopy. For imaging, cerebral vessels and calcium signals were imaged using two-photon microscopy. The new electrode is compatible with magnetic resonance imaging and does not cause artifact images. Such a new multimodal neural interface could represent immediate opportunity for use in broad areas of application in neuroscience research and clinical neurology.
虽然金属电极被广泛使用，但它们与脑组织不相容，往往导致损伤和无法实现长期植入。在这里，我们报告了一种水凝胶作为离子导体，弹性体作为电介质的硬膜下神经接口。我们证明，与金属电极相比，它引起的神经胶质反应和脑血管破坏要少得多。在猫模型中，水凝胶电极能够以与金属电极相当的质量记录电信号。水凝胶-弹性体神经接口也很容易实现多种模式功能。水凝胶和弹性体都是透明的，能够进行活体光学显微镜检查。为了进行成像，使用双光子显微镜对脑血管和钙信号进行了成像。新电极与磁共振成像兼容，不会产生伪影图像。这种新的多模态神经接口可以立即在神经科学研究和临床神经学的广泛应用领域得到应用。
