Cortical Stimulation Paired With Volitional Unimanual Movement Affects Interhemispheric Communication

Cortical stimulation (CS) of the motor cortex can cause excitability changes in both hemispheres, showing potential to be a technique for clinical rehabilitation of motor function. However, previous studies that have investigated the effects of delivering CS during movement typically focus on a single hemisphere. On the other hand, studies exploring interhemispheric interactions typically deliver CS at rest. We sought to bridge these two approaches by documenting the consequences of delivering CS to a single motor cortex during different phases of contralateral and ipsilateral limb movement, and simultaneously assessing changes in interactions within and between the hemispheres via local field potential (LFP) recordings. Three macaques were trained in a unimanual reaction time (RT) task and implanted with epidural or intracortical electrodes over bilateral motor cortices. During a given session CS was delivered to one hemisphere with respect to movements of either the contralateral or ipsilateral limb. Stimulation delivered before contralateral limb movement onset shortened the contralateral limb RT. In contrast, stimulation delivered after the end of contralateral movement increased contralateral RT but decreased ipsilateral RT. Stimulation delivered before ipsilateral limb movement decreased ipsilateral RT. All other stimulus conditions as well as random stimulation and periodic stimulation did not have consistently significant effects on either limb. Simultaneous LFP recordings from one animal revealed correlations between changes in interhemispheric alpha band coherence and changes in RT, suggesting that alpha activity may be indicative of interhemispheric communication. These results show that changes caused by CS to the functional coupling within and between precentral cortices is contingent on the timing of CS relative to movement.

The Role of Electrode-Site Placement in the Long-Term Stability of Intracortical Microstimulation

Intracortical microelectrodes are neuroprosthetic devices used in brain-machine interfaces to both record and stimulate neural activity in the brain. These technologies have been improved by advances in microfabrication, which have led to the creation of subcellular and high-density microelectrodes. The greater number of independent stimulation channels in these devices allows for improved neuromodulation selectivity, compared to single-site microelectrodes. Elements of electrode design such as electrode-site placement can influence the long-term performance of neuroprostheses. Previous studies have shown that electrode-sites placed on the edge of a planar microelectrode have greater chronic recording functionality than sites placed in the center. However, the effect of electrode-site placement on long-term intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) is still unknown. Here, we show that, in rats chronically implanted with custom-made planar silicon microelectrodes, electrode-sites on the tip of the device outperformed those on both the edge and center in terms of the effect per charge delivered, though there is still a slight advantage to using edge sites over center sites for ICMS. Longitudinal analysis of ICMS detection thresholds over a 16-week period revealed that while all sites followed a similar trend over time, the tip and edge sites consistently elicited the behavioral response with less charge compared to center sites. Furthermore, we quantified channel activity over time and found that edge sites remained more active than center sites over time, though the rate of decay of active sites for center and edge sites was comparable. Our results demonstrate that electrode-site placement plays an important role in the long-term stability of intracortical microstimulation and could be a potential factor to consider in the design of future intracortical electrodes.

Chronic Intracortical Recording and Electrochemical Stability of Thiol-ene/Acrylate Shape Memory Polymer Electrode Arrays

Current intracortical probe technology is limited in clinical implementation due to the short functional lifetime of implanted devices. Devices often fail several months to years post-implantation, likely due to the chronic immune response characterized by glial scarring and neuronal dieback. It has been demonstrated that this neuroinflammatory response is influenced by the mechanical mismatch between stiff devices and the soft brain tissue, spurring interest in the use of softer polymer materials for probe encapsulation. Here, we demonstrate stable recordings and electrochemical properties obtained from fully encapsulated shape memory polymer (SMP) intracortical electrodes implanted in the rat motor cortex for 13 weeks. SMPs are a class of material that exhibit modulus changes when exposed to specific conditions. The formulation used in these devices softens by an order of magnitude after implantation compared to its dry, room-temperature modulus of ~2 GPa.

Implanted intracortical electrodes as chronic neural interfaces to the central nervous system

Recent developments in neural interfaces show that it is possible to have fine control of a robotic prosthetic by interfacing with the motor cortex of the human brain. Development of long term systems for this purpose is a challenging task with many different possibilities. Intracortical implants have shown the most promise in providing enough signal selectivity and throughput for complex control systems with many degrees of freedom. Intracortical systems generally fall into two categories: MEMS devices and bundle of wire systems. While both show promise, MEMS systems have been greatly popularized due to their reproducibility. In particular, the Michigan probe and Utah microarray are often used as a base for construction of more complex intracortical systems. However, these systems still carry many downsides. Their long-term viability is questionable, with mixed results. The effects of damage from implantation are still inconclusive and immune responses remain a problem for long-term use. While there is some promising research in the use of bioactive molecules and biocompatible materials to prevent immune responses, more controlled study is needed before intracortical systems become widespread.

Implanted intracortical electrodes as chronic neural interfaces to the central nervous system

Recent developments in neural interfaces show that it is possible to have fine control of a robotic prosthetic by interfacing with the motor cortex of the human brain. Development of long term systems for this purpose is a challenging task with many different possibilities. Intracortical implants have shown the most promise in providing enough signal selectivity and throughput for complex control systems with many degrees of freedom. Intracortical systems generally fall into two categories: MEMS devices and bundle of wire systems. While both show promise, MEMS systems have been greatly popularized due to their reproducibility. In particular, the Michigan probe and Utah microarray are often used as a base for construction of more complex intracortical systems. However, these systems still carry many downsides. Their long-term viability is questionable, with mixed results. The effects of damage from implantation are still inconclusive and immune responses remain a problem for long-term use. While there is some promising research in the use of bioactive molecules and biocompatible materials to prevent immune responses, more controlled study is needed before intracortical systems become widespread.