Shaping The Future Of Neuroprosthetics With Soft Implants...

Shaping the Future of Neuroprosthetics with Soft Implants A neuroprosthetic implant is an interface between neurons and external devices to restore or supplement the function of the nervous system lost during injury or disease. There have been considerable strides made in the field of neuroprosthetics, with varying degrees of success. The treatment of many neurological disorders has improved due the implantation of macro and microdevices into neural tissue. As prosthetic implants need to be placed in direct contact with tissue, biocompatibility becomes an important aspect to be taken into consideration during their design. Acute and chronic inflammatory responses occur on the insertion of†¦show more content†¦The modalities could be utilised for multiple therapeutic purposes, as demonstrated, such as electric stimulation, neural recording and directed drug delivery. The combined use of the different modalities was shown to restore locomotion in paralyzed animals. The e-dura, a soft implant, was fabricated by soft lithography process using silicone of 120mm thickness as the elastomeric substrate with stretchable gold interconnects at either end, embedded with platinum-silicone composite electrodes and a microfluidic channel. The performance of the fabricated e-dura was tested against a 25mm thick polyimide stiff implant. The e-dura was surgically implanted via an incision in the dura mater and secured in place by orthotic screws in the lumbosacral segments of healthy rat spinal cord. The stiff implant was similarly implanted above the dura mater. 6 weeks after implantation, both animal groups were assessed for motor performance using kinematic recordings of basic walking and movement across a horizontal ladder. The animal group with soft implant displayed similar movement to that of the sham group (received only screw but no implant) as compared to the group with stiff implants. Explanted spinal cord of all animal groups was studied to quanti fy changes in shape by calculating circularity index. The immunological response of astrocytes and microglia was visualized. Once again, the soft implant was found to perform