Tea Wing Bug Inspired Flexible Deep Brain Probe Minimally Invasive Implantation

This paper reports a bionic silk-based neural probe implantation method which inspired by the anatomy of the mouth parts of the tea wing bug. Remarkably, compared to the latest polymer-coated reinforcement, the implanted footprint area was reduced by 2.17 times [1] to only 3450 μm
²
. In terms of structural design, we incorporated a Tshaped structure, effectively doubling the yield strength within the same area; Furthermore, through the utilization of riboflavin-ultraviolet crosslinking, we significantly enhanced the Young's modulus of the protein reinforcement layer to approximately ~2.77 GPa, representing an impressive 20~30 times increase compared to conventional polymer like PEG. In addition, the protein was regulated to dissolve after 120 s, which ensured the strength of probe during the deep brain implantation and eliminated the presence of foreign bodies in tissues after the implantation, which further reduced inflammation. Moreover, the riboflavin-ultraviolet cross-linked protein matrix offers distinct advantages with controllable degradation. It retains the ability to carry active factors and drugs, enabling concurrent disease treatment while collecting neural signals.