Neurochemostat: A Neural Interface SoC With Integrated Chemometrics for Closed-Loop Regulation of Brain Dopamine

IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst. 2016 Jun;10(3):654-67. doi: 10.1109/TBCAS.2015.2453791. Epub 2015 Sep 16.

Abstract

This paper presents a 3.3×3.2 mm(2) system-on-chip (SoC) fabricated in AMS 0.35 μm 2P/4M CMOS for closed-loop regulation of brain dopamine. The SoC uniquely integrates neurochemical sensing, on-the-fly chemometrics, and feedback-controlled electrical stimulation to realize a "neurochemostat" by maintaining brain levels of electrically evoked dopamine between two user-set thresholds. The SoC incorporates a 90 μW, custom-designed, digital signal processing (DSP) unit for real-time processing of neurochemical data obtained by 400 V/s fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) with a carbon-fiber microelectrode (CFM). Specifically, the DSP unit executes a chemometrics algorithm based upon principal component regression (PCR) to resolve in real time electrically evoked brain dopamine levels from pH change and CFM background-current drift, two common interferents encountered using FSCV with a CFM in vivo. Further, the DSP unit directly links the chemically resolved dopamine levels to the activation of the electrical microstimulator in on-off-keying (OOK) fashion. Measured results from benchtop testing, flow injection analysis (FIA), and biological experiments with an anesthetized rat are presented.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Dopamine / analysis*
  • Electric Stimulation
  • Electrochemical Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Electrochemical Techniques / methods
  • Equipment Design
  • Microelectrodes
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Telemetry / instrumentation
  • Telemetry / methods

Substances

  • Dopamine