Toward Bioelectronic Medicine—Neuromodulation of Small Peripheral Nerves Using Flexible Neural Clip

Abstract

Neural modulation technology and the capability to affect organ function have spawned the new field of bioelectronic medicine. Therapeutic interventions depend on wireless bioelectronic neural interfaces that can conformally and easily attach to small (few hundred micrometers) nerves located deep in the body without neural damage. Besides size, factors like flexibility and compliance to attach and adapt to visceral nerves associated moving organs are of paramount importance and have not been previously addressed. This study proposes a novel flexible neural clip (FNC) that can be used to interface with a variety of different peripheral nerves. To illustrate the flexibility of the design, this study stimulates the pelvic nerve, the vagus nerve, and branches of the sciatic nerve and evaluates the feasibility of the design in modulating the function of each of these nerves. It is found that this FNC allows fine‐tuning of physiological processes such as micturition, heart rate, and muscle contractions. Furthermore, this study also tests the ability of wirelessly powered FNC to enable remote modulation of visceral pelvic nerves located deep in the body. These results show that the FNC can be used with a range of different nerves, providing one of the critical pieces in the field of bioelectronics medicines.

Interfaces with the peripheral nervous system for the control of a neuroprosthetic limb: a review

“…Cuff electrodes are broadly researched as peripheral nerve interfaces. They are fabricated with various designs and are still continuing to be developed in advanced forms [58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]. These designs are named and classified according to their morphological properties [10].…”

Neuromodulation of pelvic nerve during early phase of spinal cord injury in rats using implantable prototype devices - a preliminary study

“…The cord was then cut by using a fine micro spring scissors to produce a complete transaction. After the SCI, skin incisions were made at the abdominal and head area to allow the head-plug, with connecting wires (DFT™ wire, Fort Wayne Metals) to the flexible neural clip electrodes coated with iridium oxide for the pelvic nerve 16 and the ground electrode (Cooner Wire AS632), to be tunnelled subcutaneously from the abdominal skin incision towards the skull for implantation. Metal screws and dental cement were used for anchoring the head-plug on the rat's skull.…”

“…The pelvic nerve branches off from the L6-S1 nerve trunk, and contains axons of preganglionic parasympathetic neurons that synapse onto the postganglionic parasympathetic neurons in the major pelvic ganglion in the rodents, which then release acetylcholine to excite the smooth detrusor muscles in the bladder wall 1 . In order to perform nerve stimulation in awake SCI rats, we implanted a bipolar flexible neural clip 16,17 on the pelvic nerve, and used a prototype of a wireless nerve stimulator to deliver biphasic constant current pulses. Bladder size, capacity, and preservation of nonvoiding spontaneous contractions 18 were monitored and quantified.…”

Investigation of Low‐Current Direct Stimulation for Rehabilitation Treatment Related to Muscle Function Loss Using Self‐Powered TENG System

“…Examples include optoelectronic devices for neuromodulation, [7] soft mechanical actuators to assist organ functions, [8,9] and microfluidic devices for drug delivery. To interface with the delicate biological tissues, flexible electrodes made of polyimide, [12][13][14] SU-8, [15,16] poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), [17] and hydrogel [18] are developed to minimize the mechanical mismatch with the brain and peripheral nerves. To interface with the delicate biological tissues, flexible electrodes made of polyimide, [12][13][14] SU-8, [15,16] poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), [17] and hydrogel [18] are developed to minimize the mechanical mismatch with the brain and peripheral nerves.…”