Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes (INS), INSERM, UMR_1106, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Campus Norrköping, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2022 Sep;11(17):e2200075. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202200075. Epub 2022 Jul 7.
Electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves is a cornerstone of bioelectronic medicine. Effective ways to accomplish peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) noninvasively without surgically implanted devices are enabling for fundamental research and clinical translation. Here, it is demonstrated how relatively high-frequency sine-wave carriers (3 kHz) emitted by two pairs of cutaneous electrodes can temporally interfere at deep peripheral nerve targets. The effective stimulation frequency is equal to the offset frequency (0.5 - 4 Hz) between the two carriers. This principle of temporal interference nerve stimulation (TINS) in vivo using the murine sciatic nerve model is validated. Effective actuation is delivered at significantly lower current amplitudes than standard transcutaneous electrical stimulation. Further, how flexible and conformable on-skin multielectrode arrays can facilitate precise alignment of TINS onto a nerve is demonstrated. This method is simple, relying on the repurposing of existing clinically-approved hardware. TINS opens the possibility of precise noninvasive stimulation with depth and efficiency previously impossible with transcutaneous techniques.
外周神经电刺激是生物电子医学的基石。无需手术植入设备即可实现外周神经刺激（PNS）的有效非侵入性方法，为基础研究和临床转化提供了可能。在这里，展示了两对皮肤电极发出的相对高频正弦波载波（3 kHz）如何在深部外周神经目标处产生时间干扰。有效刺激频率等于两个载波之间的偏移频率（0.5-4 Hz）。该原理在使用小鼠坐骨神经模型的体内进行了验证。与标准经皮电刺激相比，该方法在显著较低的电流幅度下实现了有效的驱动。此外，还展示了柔性和顺应性的皮肤多电极阵列如何有助于将 TINS 精确对准神经。该方法简单，依赖于现有临床批准硬件的重新利用。TINS 为以前经皮技术无法实现的深度和效率的精确非侵入性刺激提供了可能性。
