Ultra-long term stability of single units using chronically implanted multielectrode arrays

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neural Engineering
• Neurophysiology

Background:

• Chronically implanted multielectrode arrays are widely used in neuroscience and neural engineering.
• The long-term stability of recorded single-units is not well understood, hindering reliable neural data interpretation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize the long-term stability of single-unit recordings from chronically implanted multielectrode arrays.
• To assess the duration for which neural units remain stable over extended periods.

Main Methods:

• Neural activity was recorded from a Utah multielectrode array in a rhesus macaque's primary motor cortex.
• Recordings were conducted across 18 sessions over a nine-month period.

Main Results:

• 67% of single-units remained stable for 15 days.
• 31% were stable for 47 days, and 21% for 106 days.
• 8% of units maintained stability for over 9 months, with longer stability predicting continued stability.

Conclusions:

• Single-unit recordings from chronically implanted arrays can exhibit stability over several months.
• The observed long-term stability is promising for applications requiring sustained neural signal acquisition, such as brain-computer interfaces.