Neuromedicator - a disposable drug delivery system with silicon microprobes for neural research

We report on a novel disposable drug delivery system for neural research which allows to infuse 16 discrete liquid portions of 0.25 ¿L directly into neural cell tissue. The system comprises an 11 × 14.5 × 3 mm
³
fluidic chip with a pluggable electrical micro connector and two 8-mm-long micromachined silicon fluidic microprobes with a cross-sectional area of 250 × 250 ¿m
²
. A pearl chain-like fluidic structure with spherical segments was developed which stores and predefines the required drug liquid portions for the whole time of operation. The micropump principle for liquid delivery is based on the local, irreversible thermal expansion of microspheres embedded into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).