AsianScientist (Nov. 4, 2016) – Researchers in Japan have developed micrometer-scale silicon needle-electrodes which may help solve the mysteries of the brain and facilitate the development of a brain-machine interface. The research results were reported in Scientific Reports.
To study the extremely complex neuronal networks in the human brain, researchers have designed microfabricated silicon needle-electrode devices to record and analyze its electrical activities. However, smaller needle technologies are necessary to reduce damage to brain tissue and enhance the accessibility of electrodes in the brain.
Researchers at Japan’s Toyohashi University of Technology have developed a 5 micrometer-diameter silicon needle-electrode device that comes attached to a 1 mm × 1 mm block module. As the researchers demonstrated using mouse brains, the block modules are small enough to use in the narrow spaces present in brain tissue. In addition, the block modules remarkably improve the design variability in the packaging, making many types of in vivo recording applications possible.
“We demonstrated high design variability in the packaging of our electrode device, and in vivo neuronal recordings were performed by simply placing the device on a mouse’s brain. We were very surprised that high quality signals of a single unit were stably recorded over a long period using the 5-μm-diameter needle,” explained the first author Assistant Professor Hirohito Sawahata and co-author Dr. Shota Yamagiwa.
The article can be found at: Sawahata et al. (2016) Single 5 μm Diameter Needle Electrode Block Modules for Unit Recordings In Vivo.
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Source: Toyohashi University of Technology.
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