A configurable IC for wireless real-time in vivo monitoring of chemical and electrical neural activity

A simplified LED-driven switch for fast-scan controlled-adsorption voltammetry instrumentation

Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) is an analytical tool used to probe neurochemical processes in real-time. A major drawback for specialized applications of FSCV is that instrumentation must be constructed or modified in-house by those with expertise in electronics. One such specialized application is the newly developed fast-scan controlled-adsorption voltammetry (FSCAV) that measures basal (tonic) in vivo dopamine and serotonin concentrations. FSCAV requires additional software and equipment (an operational amplifier coupled to a transistor-transistor logic) allowing the system to switch between applying a FSCV waveform and a constant potential to the working electrode. Herein we describe a novel, simplified switching component to facilitate the integration of FSCAV into existing FSCV instruments, thereby making this method more accessible to the community. Specifically, we employ two light emitting diodes (LEDs) to generate the voltage needed to drive a NPN bipolar junction transistor, substantially streamlining the circuitry and fabrication of the switching component. We performed in vitro and in vivo analyses to compare the new LED circuit vs. the original switch. Our data shows that the novel simplified switching component performs equally well when compared to traditional instrumentation. Thus, we present a new, simplified scheme to perform FSCAV that is cheap, simple, and easy to construct by individuals without a background in engineering and electronics.

Using "smart stimulators" to treat Parkinson's disease: re-engineering neurostimulation devices

Let's imagine the cruise control of your car locked at 120 km/h on any road in any condition (city, country, highway, sunny or rainy weather), or your car air conditioner set on maximum cold in any temperature condition (even during a snowy winter): would you find it efficient? That would probably not be the most optimal strategy for a proper and comfortable driving experience. As surprising as this may seem, this is a pretty accurate illustration of how deep brain stimulation is used today to treat Parkinson's disease motor symptoms and other neurological disorders such as essential tremor, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or epilepsy.

A high-speed circuit architecture for IR-UWB transmission of fast-scan cyclic voltammetry in 0.35 εm CMOS

This paper reports on the design of a high-speed circuit for impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) transmission of 16-channel neurochemical activity recorded using 300-V/s fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV). Simulated in a low-cost 0.35-εm standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the circuit generates 3(rd)-derivative Gaussian pulses with sub-nanosecond duration, which are highpass filtered externally using a 4(th)-order Butterworth filter before feeding to an off-chip UWB antenna. The power spectral density (PSD) achieves a peak emission frequency of 4.6 GHz with a 2.3-GHz bandwidth (-10 dB), and is fully compliant with the UWB emission mask. The energy efficiency in pulse generation is 161.7 pJ/pulse that leads to a power consumption of 4.85 mW from 3.3 V for a data rate of 15 Mbps, when two pulses are used to transmit a single data bit.