Sensing local field potentials with a directional and scalable depth electrode array.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Engineering
• Electrophysiology

Background:

• Current electrophysiology tools lack comprehensive capabilities for neurosurgery.
• Existing tools cannot simultaneously record from all cortical regions minimally invasively, at multiple scales, or from distributed networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel electrophysiology device addressing limitations in current neurosurgical tools.
• To enable minimally invasive access to all cortical regions with simultaneous multi-scale recordings and network analysis.

Main Methods:

• Modeled, designed, and demonstrated a novel device combining stereo-electroencephalography electrode form factor with radially distributed microelectrodes.
• Utilized electro-quasistatic models to demonstrate directional amplification and shielding properties.
• Performed in vivo recordings in rat barrel cortex during whisker stimulation.

Main Results:

• The Directional and Scalable (DISC) array demonstrated amplified and shielded Local Field Potential (LFP) sources, enabling directional sensitivity.
• In vivo experiments showed significantly improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), directional sensitivity, and decoding accuracy compared to existing methods.
• DISC achieved an SNR superior to virtual ring electrodes and a noise floor comparable to large ring electrodes.

Conclusions:

• The DISC array offers directional sensitivity for LFPs, a significant advancement for neurosurgery.
• This technology has the potential to enhance brain-computer interfaces, epilepsy diagnosis, and deep brain targeting procedures.