An Expandable Brain-Machine Interface Enabled by Origami Materials and Structures for Tracking Epileptic Traveling...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Devices

Background:

• Tracking neural activity across multiple brain regions is challenging due to skull injuries from electrode implantation and limited probe accessibility.
• Conventional electrocorticography (ECoG) grids and depth probes have limitations in coverage and spatial reach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel multiregion Brain-machine Interface (BMI) that overcomes limitations of current neural tracking technologies.
• To enable large-area cortical coverage and access to multiple deep brain regions with minimal invasiveness.

Main Methods:

• Development of an expandable, bio-inspired origami ECoG electrode for large cortical area coverage.
• Design of an expandable origami depth probe for accessing multiple deep brain regions beyond a single axis.
• Utilizing the proposed BMI in rat models to observe neural activity during focal seizures.

Main Results:

• The expandable origami ECoG electrode successfully covered cortical areas larger than the cranial window.
• The expandable origami depth probe reached multiple deep brain regions.
• In rat models, focal seizures showed cortical multiband epileptiform activities manifesting as expanding traveling waves from a source.

Conclusions:

• The proposed origami-based BMI offers a less invasive and more effective method for multiregion neural activity tracking.
• This technology provides new insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of brain activity, such as seizure propagation.
• The bio-inspired origami approach represents a significant advancement in brain-machine interface technology.