Mechanical characterization of conducting polymer actuated neural probes under physiological settings

Most implantable chronic neural probes have fixed electrode sites on the shank of the probe. Neural probe shapes and insertion methods have been shown to have considerable effects on the resulting chronic reactive tissue response that encapsulates probes. We are developing probes with controllable articulated electrode projections, which are expected to provoke less reactive tissue response due to the projections being minimally sized, as well as to permit a degree of independence from the probe shank allowing the recording sites to "float" within the brain. The objective of this study was to predict and analyze the force-generating capability of conducting polymer bilayer actuators under physiological settings. Custom parylene beams 21 μm thick, 1 cm long, and of varying widths (200 - 1000 μm) were coated with Cr/Au. Electroplated weights were fabricated at the ends of the beams to apply known forces. Polypyrrole was potentiostatically polymerized to varying thicknesses onto the Au at 0.5 V in a solution of 0.1 M pyrrole and 0.1 M dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS). Using cyclic voltammetry, the bilayer beams were cycled in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) at 37 °C, as well as in aqueous NaDBS as a control. Digital images and video were analyzed to quantify the deflections. The images and the cyclic voltammograms showed that divalent cations in the aCSF interfered with polymer reduction. By integrating polypyrrole-based conducting polymer actuators, we present a type novel neural probe. We demonstrate that actuating PPy(DBS) under physiological settings is possible, and that the technique of microfabricating weights onto the actuators is a useful tool for studying actuation forces.