Optoelectronic system for brain neuronal network stimulation

Abstract

We propose an optoelectronic system for stimulation of living neurons. The system consists of an electronic circuit based on the FitzHugh–Nagumo model, an optical fiber, and a photoelectrical converter. We used this system for electrical stimulation of hippocampal living neurons in acute hippocampal brain slices (350-μm thick) obtained from a 20–28 days old C57BL/6 mouse or a Wistar rat. The main advantage of our system over other similar stimulators is that it contains an optical fiber for signal transmission instead of metallic wires. The fiber is placed between the electronic circuit and stimulated neurons and provides galvanic isolation from external electrical and magnetic fields. The use of the optical fiber allows avoiding electromagnetic noise and current flows which could affect metallic wires. Furthermore, it gives us the possibility to simulate “synaptic plasticity” by adaptive signal transfer through optical fiber. The proposed optoelectronic system (hybrid neural circuit) provides a very high efficiency in stimulating hippocampus neurons and can be used for restoring brain activity in particular regions or replacing brain parts (neuroprosthetics) damaged due to a trauma or neurodegenerative diseases.

Switch Elements with S-Shaped Current-Voltage Characteristic in Models of Neural Oscillators

“…Another prominent example of the practical application of neuromorphic circuits is the brain-machine interface. FN circuits are used to couple external electrical signals with living neurons [57] and to simulate the dynamics of neural activity [58]. In [57], an external electronic FN generator, which has a complex circuit with operational amplifiers, has been used to generate an optical signal that acted on the hippocampal living neurons, forming a neural interface for transmitting the effect.…”

“…FN circuits are used to couple external electrical signals with living neurons [57] and to simulate the dynamics of neural activity [58]. In [57], an external electronic FN generator, which has a complex circuit with operational amplifiers, has been used to generate an optical signal that acted on the hippocampal living neurons, forming a neural interface for transmitting the effect. In this way, biosimilar electrical circuits can effectively couple electronics with living neurons, and, in the future, simple and reliable circuits, as proposed in this paper, can be utilized.…”

Automatic Adaptation of Model Neurons and Connections to Build Hybrid Circuits with Living Networks

“…Pioneering works in building such interactions go back almost three decades ago (Yarom, 1991) with many successfull implementation since then, e.g. see (Szücs et al, 2000;Pinto et al, 2000;Varona et al, 2001;Le Masson et al, 2002;Nowotny et al, 2003;Olypher et al, 2006;Arsiero et al, 2007;Grashow et al, 2010;Brochini et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2012;Hooper et al, 2015;Norman et al, 2016;Broccard et al, 2017;Mishchenko et al, 2018). Hybrid circuits are typically implemented through a dynamic clamp protocol that injects current computed by a model from an instantaneous voltage recording (Robinson and Kawai, 1993;Sharp et al, 1993;Prinz et al, 2004;Destexhe and Bal, 2009;Nowotny and Varona, 2014).…”

Automatic adaptation of model neurons and connections to build hybrid circuits with living networks

“…Pioneering works in building such interactions go back almost three decades ago (Yarom, 1991) with many successfull implementation since then, e.g. see Pinto et al, 2000;Varona et al, 2001;Le Masson et al, 2002;Nowotny et al, 2003;Olypher et al, 2006;Arsiero et al, 2007;Grashow et al, 2010;Brochini et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2012;Hooper et al, 2015;Norman et al, 2016;Broccard et al, 2017;Mishchenko et al, 2018). Hybrid circuits are typically implemented through a dynamic clamp protocol that injects current computed by a model from an instantaneous voltage recording (Robinson and Kawai, 1993;Sharp et al, 1993;Prinz et al, 2004;Destexhe and Bal, 2009;Nowotny and Varona, 2014).…”