A Parylene C polymer neural probe array with 64 electrodes purposefully positioned across 8 individual shanks to anatomically match specific regions of the hippocampus was designed, fabricated, characterized, and implemented in vivo for enabling recording in deep brain regions in freely moving rats. Thin film polymer arrays were fabricated using surface micromachining techniques and mechanically braced to prevent buckling during surgical implantation. Importantly, the mechanical bracing technique developed in this work involves a novel biodegradable polymer brace that temporarily reduces shank length and consequently, increases its stiffness during implantation, therefore enabling access to deeper brain regions while preserving a low original cross-sectional area of the shanks. The resulting mechanical properties of braced shanks were evaluated at the benchtop. Arrays were then implemented in vivo in freely moving rats, achieving both acute and chronic recordings from the pyramidal cells in the cornu ammonis (CA) 1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus which are responsible for memory encoding. This work demonstrated the potential for minimally invasive polymer-based neural probe arrays for multi-region recording in deep brain structures. [2020-0018]

中文翻译：

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用于多区域深部脑记录的聚对二甲苯神经探针阵列


设计、制造、表征并在体内实施了聚对二甲苯 C 聚合物神经探针阵列，该阵列具有 64 个电极，有目的地放置在 8 个单独的小腿上，以在解剖学上匹配海马的特定区域，以便能够在自由活动的大鼠的大脑深部区域进行记录。薄膜聚合物阵列采用表面微机械加工技术制造，并进行机械支撑以防止手术植入期间发生弯曲。重要的是，这项工作中开发的机械支撑技术涉及一种新型的可生物降解聚合物支撑，可暂时缩短小腿长度，从而在植入过程中增加其刚度，从而能够进入更深的大脑区域，同时保留小腿的原始横截面积。在台式上评估支撑柄的机械性能。然后在自由活动的大鼠体内实施阵列，从负责记忆编码的海马角 (CA) 1 和 CA3 区域的锥体细胞获得急性和慢性记录。这项工作证明了微创聚合物神经探针阵列在大脑深部结构中进行多区域记录的潜力。 [2020-0018]