Silk-enabled conformal intraventricular interfaces for minimally invasive neural recordings

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Devices

Background:

• Subcortical neural activity monitoring is crucial for understanding brain circuits.
• A lack of translational tools exists for interfacing with subcortical nuclei within cerebrospinal fluid.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a flexible and conformal intraventricular interface (IVI) for minimally invasive subcortical neural monitoring.
• To assess the IVI's ability to record neural signals and its biocompatibility in vivo.

Main Methods:

• Developed a flexible, deformable microelectrode array integrated with a silk scaffold for the IVI.
• Implanted the IVI minimally invasively into lateral ventricles using clinical catheters.
• Evaluated signal quality and biocompatibility through chronic recordings in parkinsonian ewes for four weeks.

Main Results:

• The IVI self-unfolded and conformed to periventricular neural structures within the cerebrospinal fluid.
• High-quality neural signals were captured due to in-plane microelectrode shielding.
• Stable, biocompatible in vivo recordings were achieved for four weeks in parkinsonian ewes, detecting deep brain abnormalities.

Conclusions:

• The IVI platform enables chronic monitoring and circuit analysis of deep brain regions, both healthy and diseased.
• Facilitates studies on neural circuits connecting periventricular surface neurons with distant brain areas.
• Represents a significant advancement in translational tools for subcortical neural interface research.