To improve interfacing with neurites, flexible electrode materials consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and silicone rubber are investigated. Here, the authors present a method for defined application of CNT-silicone rubber on electrode surfaces. However, for low impedance as well as intimate contact between nerve cells and electrodes, additional reduction of the silicone rubber layer via etching at the interface is necessary. This requires protection of the electrodes using photoresist. The etching methods are optimized for application on ready-to-use electrode arrays and characterized using impedance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy.
Current developments of electrodes for neural recordings address the need of biomedical research and applications for high spatial acuity in electrophysiological recordings. One approach is the usage of novel materials to overcome electrochemical constraints of state-of-the-art metal contacts. Promising materials are carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as they are well suited for neural interfacing. The CNTs increase the effective contact surface area to decrease high impedances while keeping minimal contact diameters. However, to prevent toxic dissolving of CNTs, an appropriate surface coating is required. In this study, we tested flexible surface electrocorticographic (ECoG) electrodes, coated with a CNT-silicone rubber composite. First, we describe the outcome of surface etching, which exposes the contact nanostructure while anchoring the CNTs. Subsequently, the ECoG electrodes were used for acute in vivo recordings of auditory evoked potentials from the guinea pig auditory cortex. Both the impedances and the signal-to-noise ratios of coated contacts were similar to uncoated gold contacts. This novel approach for a safe application of CNTs, embedded in a surface etched silicone rubber, showed promising results but did not lead to improvements during acute recordings.
Current personalized treatment of neurological diseases is limited by availability of appropriate manufacturing methods suitable for long term sensors for neural electrical activities in the brain. An additive manufacturing process for polymer-based biocompatible neural sensors for chronic application towards individualized implants is here presented. To process thermal crosslinking polymers, the developed extrusion process enables, in combination with an infrared (IR)-Laser, accelerated curing directly after passing the outlet of the nozzle. As a result, no additional curing steps are necessary during the build-up. Furthermore, the minimal structure size can be achieved using the laser and, in combination with the extrusion parameters, provide structural resolutions desired. Active implant components fabricated using biocompatible materials for both conductive pathways and insulating cladding keep their biocompatible properties even after the additive manufacturing process. In addition, first characterization of the electric properties in terms of impedance towards application in neural tissues are shown. The printing toolkit developed enables processing of low-viscous, flexible polymeric thermal curing materials for fabrication of individualized neural implants.
A total of 124 apparently healthy German children aged 8 to 10 years were examined for lactose absorption employing the breath hydrogen test with multiple breath collection. Analysis of the maximal change of breath hydrogen concentration (delta maxH2) 110 and 150 min after a lactose load of 30 g failed to yield a bimodal distribution separating lactose absorbers and malabsorbers as observed in adults. Comparison with an adult control group of 120 subjects showed that the mean CO2 concentration was significantly lower and the coefficient of variation was considerably higher in the breath samples of the children. The difference between the highest and the lowest CO2 concentration in the three samples obtained from each individual was also significantly higher in the group of children. Normalizing the children's H2 concentration values to the mean CO2 concentration in the total group (3.04%) yielded a bimodal distribution of the delta maxH2 values. Of 124 children, 18 were identified as lactose malabsorbers. The 14.5% frequency is similar to that observed in German adults.
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