Flexible multichannel electrodes for acute recording in nonhuman primates

Yang Wang; Qifan Wang; Ruichen Zheng; Xinxiu Xu; Xinze Yang; Qiang Gui; Xiaowei Yang; Yijun Wang; He Cui; Weihua Pei

doi:10.1038/s41378-023-00550-y

Flexible multichannel electrodes for acute recording in nonhuman primates

Microsyst Nanoeng. 2023 Jul 20:9:93. doi: 10.1038/s41378-023-00550-y. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yang Wang^#^{1

2}, Qifan Wang^#^{3

2

4}, Ruichen Zheng^{3

2}, Xinxiu Xu^{3

4}, Xinze Yang^{1

2}, Qiang Gui¹, Xiaowei Yang¹, Yijun Wang^{1

2

4}, He Cui^{3

2

4}, Weihua Pei^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083 China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408 China.
³ Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031 China.
⁴ Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206 China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Flexible electrodes have demonstrated better biocompatibility than rigid electrodes in relieving tissue encapsulation and long-term recording. Nonhuman primates are closer to humans in their brains' structural and functional properties, thus making them more suitable than rodents as animal models for potential clinical usage. However, the application of flexible electrodes on nonhuman primates has rarely been reported. In the present study, a flexible multichannel electrode array for nonhuman primates was developed and implemented for extracellular recording in behaving monkeys. To minimize the window of durotomy for reducing possible risks, a guide-tube-compatible implantation solution was designed to deliver the flexible electrodes through the dura into the cortex. The proposed structure for inserting flexible electrodes was characterized ex vivo and validated in vivo. Furthermore, acute recording of multichannel flexible electrodes for the primates was performed. The results showed that the flexible electrodes and implantation method used in this study meet the needs of extracellular recording in nonhuman primates. Task-related neuronal activities with a high signal-to-noise ratio of spikes demonstrated that our whole device is currently a minimally invasive and clinically viable approach for extracellular recording.

Keywords: Biosensors; Electrical and electronic engineering.