Development of flexible neural probes and their application to rat brain interfaces

In this paper, descriptions of various flexible neural probes and a rat car system, which we developed, are presented. The probe is sufficiently flexible to enable minimally invasive recording. Some of these probes have micro-fluidic channels integrated into the probe that can be used to inject chemicals into neural tissues and achieve a stable interface with the nervous system. The focus is on issues concerning 1) stable recording with electrodes placed in fluidic channels, 2) improved mechanical stiffness by filling channels with a solid that dissolves in neural tissues, and 3) the probe's application to a nerve regeneration electrode. The rat car system uses signals recorded from a rat motor cortex to control the car carrying the rat. It is being developed as an application of a brain-machine interfacing (BMI) system.