Investigation of stereotactic surgery for avian brain stimulation by a fully implanted wireless system

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>OBJECTIVE</jats:title><jats:p>The authors’ goal was to study avian motor brain mapping via wireless stimulation to induce certain behaviors. In this paper, the authors propose an electrode design that is suitable for avian brain stimulation as well as a stereotactic implant procedure for the proposed electrode.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>METHODS</jats:title><jats:p>An appropriate breed for avian brain study was chosen. A fully implantable remote-controlled electrical stimulation system was inserted to minimize discomfort. A suitable electrode design and stereotactic surgery method based on the electrode design were investigated.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>RESULTS</jats:title><jats:p>Using a wireless stimulation system, flapping and rotation behaviors were induced by stimulating the ventral part of the nucleus intercollicularis and formatio reticularis medialis mesencephali both on the ground and during flight.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>CONCLUSIONS</jats:title><jats:p>The authors were able to implant the entire brain stimulation system inside the avian body without any surgical complications. Postoperative observations suggested that the bird did not find the implant uncomfortable.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Current Stimulation of the Midbrain Nucleus in Pigeons for Avian Flight Control

“…Because deeply seated motor nuclei of the brain were investigated as stimulation targets for rotation and flight in pigeons, penetrating depth probe electrodes were designed. Liquid crystal polymer (LCP)-based fully implantable brain stimulation system was fabricated and used in this experiment because LCP has excellent biocompatibility and low moisture permeability, and can be fabricated into a multi-channel depth probe electrode array, while its flexibility reduces the risk of electrode fracture [ 23 , 32 , 33 ]. The fabricated LCP electrode had 10 mm shanks with two stimulation sites per shank.…”

“…According to the pigeon brain atlas [ 18 ], shanks of the multielectrode array were introduced one by one into the target nuclei, and each shank was fixed to the calvaria by glass ionomer dental cement (Fuji II LC, GC Corp., Tokyo, Japan) as shown in Figure 1 . The scalp was sutured with 4-0 Monocryl ® (poliglecaprone 25, Ethicon US, LLC, Cincinnati, OH, USA) around the electrode array [ 32 ].…”

“…A handheld, wireless neural stimulation controller and the implantable neurostimulator developed by the authors were used for the experiment [ 26 , 32 , 34 ]. The external controller was composed of a microcontroller (SPARTAN3A, Xilinx, San Jose, CA, USA) and a Zigbee communication module (CC2530, Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX, USA).…”

Evaluation of the Anesthetic Properties of Dexmedetomidine and Dexmedetomidine-Ketamine Combination and the Properties of Atipamezole as a Reversal Agent in Domestic Pigeons

“…Pigeon breeding is a hobby and a cultural tradition (Jerolmack, 2007). Pigeons are still used in laboratory studies by veterinary students, in investigations of neurobiological and neuroendocrine mechanisms, and especially in stereotaxic surgery (Baek et al, 2020;Martel et al, 2021). According to data on the use of animals for scientific purposes in EU countries, among the 9,388,162 animals used in scientific research in 2017, avian species constituted 6% (EC, 2019).…”