An Embedded Deep Brain Stimulator for Biphasic Chronic Experiments in Freely Moving Rodents

IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst. 2016 Feb;10(1):72-84. doi: 10.1109/TBCAS.2014.2368788. Epub 2014 Dec 23.

Abstract

This paper describes a Deep Brain Stimulation device, portable, for chronic experiments on rodents in the context of Parkinson's disease. Our goal is to equip the animal with a device that mimics the human therapeutic conditions. It implies to respect a set of properties such as bilateral current-mode and charge-balanced stimulation, as well as programmability, low power consumption and re-usability to finally reach a suitable weight for long-term experiments. After the analysis of the solutions found in the literature, the full design of the device is explained. First, the stimulation front-end circuit driven by a processor unit, then the choice of supply sources which is a critical point for the weight and life-time of our system. Our low cost system has been realized using commercial discrete components and the overall power consumption was minimized. We achieved 6 days of maximal current stimulation with the chosen battery for a weight of 13.8 g . Finally, the device was carried out in vivo on rats during a 3 weeks experiment as the used implantation technique allows battery changing. This experiment also permits to emphasize the mechanical aspects including the packaging and electrodes holding.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Deep Brain Stimulation / instrumentation*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Electric Stimulation
  • Electronics, Medical
  • Equipment Design
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Parkinson Disease / therapy*
  • Rats