Treatment of neuropathic pain after brachial plexus injury by implantable wireless charging flexible micro-LED array

Total brachial plexus injuries (TBPI) caused by trauma often inflict unbearable pain on patients. However, there is still a lack of effective treatment strategies for these conditions. Optogenetics, as an emerging interdisciplinary field, can bridge biology and electronic science, becoming an important research tool for studying biological neural networks and metabolic systems. In this study, we fabricate a flexible optogenetic probe through micro-LED technology which is able to directly stimulate photosensitive proteins via the high brightness of micro-LEDs, effectively modulating neuronal activity. The flexible probe has excellent stability and optical properties. Under 5 mm bending, there is almost no obvious change in optical properties. Furthermore, with a duty cycle of 10%, the temperature increase is only 0.6 °C. This low temperature change can effectively prevent the brain damage caused by its thermal effect. We demonstrate that this approach can significantly ameliorate pain associated with TBPI.