Poustinchi M., Stacey G., Musallam S.
McGill University, Neural Prosthetics Laboratory, CA
Keywords: action potential, analog to digital convertor, brain bio-signal measurement, current conveyor, nano-brain-machine-interface, neural amplifier, neurotransmitter, power efficient
Thanks to technological advancements in recent decades, outstanding progress has been made in the field of neuroscience and neural engineering. Although the information processing in the brain is mostly done through neuron’s electrical activities, there might be significant information in presynaptic neurochemicals. Recent studies suggest concurrent measurement of interrelated brain’s electrical and neurochemical activity may lead to novel approaches for diagnostic and better understanding of brain operation which may result in improved solutions for nervous system related disease and developing optimal neural prosthetics. We present a power efficient implantable CMOS Nano-Brain-Machine-Interface for simultaneous measurement of Action Potential (AP) and neurotransmitter concentration. It consist of a nano-power neural amplifier for action potential detection and amplification; a nano-power current conveyor potentiostat which senses picoscale to microscale current that corresponds to micromolar neurotransmitter concentration; and a micro-power ∑∆ Analog to Digital Convertor (ADC) to convert the analog signal (AP or neurotransmitter concentration ) to digital code. This microsystem is fabricated in CMOS 0.18 µ technology and tested using recorded signals from dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) area of a macaque monkey in our lab.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2014: MEMS, Fluidics, Bio Systems, Medical, Computational & Photonics
Published: June 15, 2014
Pages: 196 - 199
Industry sector: Medical & Biotech
Topics: Diagnostics & Bioimaging, Sensors - Chemical, Physical & Bio
ISBN: 978-1-4822-5827-1