An arbitrary waveform neurostimulator for preclinical studies: design and verification.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: An arbitrary waveform neurostimulator for preclinical studies: design and verification.
Authors: Guzman-Miranda, Hipolito1 (AUTHOR), Barriga-Rivera, Alejandro2,3 (AUTHOR) abrivera@us.es
Source: Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing. Apr2025, Vol. 63 Issue 4, p1143-1159. 17p.
Subjects: Neural stimulation, Arbitrary waveform generators, Artificial vision, Electrophysiology, Field programmable gate arrays, Therapeutics, Electric stimulation, Medical sciences
Abstract: Neural electrostimulation has enabled different therapies to treat a number of health problems. For example, the cochlear implant allows for recovering the hearing function and deep brain electrostimulation has been proved to reduce tremor in Parkinson's disease. Other approaches such as retinal prostheses are progressing rapidly, as researchers continue to investigate new strategies to activate targeted neurons more precisely. The use of arbitrary current waveform electrosimulation is a promising technique that allows exploiting the differences that exist among different neural types to enable preferential activation. This work presents a two-channel arbitrary waveform neurostimulator designed for visual prosthetics research. A field programmable gate array (FPGA) was employed to control and generate voltage waveforms via digital-to-analog converters. Voltage waveforms were then electrically isolated and converted to current waveforms using a modified Howland amplifier. Shorting of the electrodes was provided using multiplexers. The FPGA gateware was verified to a high level of confidence using a transaction-level modeled testbench, achieving a line coverage of 91.4%. The complete system was tested in saline using silver electrodes with diameters from 200 to 1000 µm. The bandwidth obtained was 30 kHz with voltage compliance ± 15 V. The neurostimulator can be easily scaled up using the provided in/out trigger ports and adapted to other applications with minor modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Description
Abstract:Neural electrostimulation has enabled different therapies to treat a number of health problems. For example, the cochlear implant allows for recovering the hearing function and deep brain electrostimulation has been proved to reduce tremor in Parkinson's disease. Other approaches such as retinal prostheses are progressing rapidly, as researchers continue to investigate new strategies to activate targeted neurons more precisely. The use of arbitrary current waveform electrosimulation is a promising technique that allows exploiting the differences that exist among different neural types to enable preferential activation. This work presents a two-channel arbitrary waveform neurostimulator designed for visual prosthetics research. A field programmable gate array (FPGA) was employed to control and generate voltage waveforms via digital-to-analog converters. Voltage waveforms were then electrically isolated and converted to current waveforms using a modified Howland amplifier. Shorting of the electrodes was provided using multiplexers. The FPGA gateware was verified to a high level of confidence using a transaction-level modeled testbench, achieving a line coverage of 91.4%. The complete system was tested in saline using silver electrodes with diameters from 200 to 1000 µm. The bandwidth obtained was 30 kHz with voltage compliance ± 15 V. The neurostimulator can be easily scaled up using the provided in/out trigger ports and adapted to other applications with minor modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:01400118
DOI:10.1007/s11517-024-03241-6