Highly Flexible Silicone Coated Neural Array for Intracochlear Electrical Stimulation. (5th July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bhatti, P.; Van Beek-King, J.; Sharpe, A.; Crawford, J.; Tridandapani, S.; McKinnon, B.; Blake, D.
• Other Names: Hwang Chung-Feng Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: BioMed research international. Volume 2015(2015)
• Publication Date: 2015-07-05
• Subjects: Medicine -- Periodicals; Biology -- Periodicals; Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Life sciences -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1155/2015/109702
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2314-6133

Abstract

Abstract : We present an effective method for tailoring the flexibility of a commercial thin-film polymer electrode array for intracochlear electrical stimulation. Using a pneumatically driven dispensing system, an average232 ± 64 μ m (mean ± SD) thickness layer of silicone adhesive coating was applied to stiffen the underside of polyimide multisite arrays. Additional silicone was applied to the tip to protect neural tissue during insertion and along the array to improve surgical handling. Each array supported 20 platinum sites (180 μ m dia., 250 μ m pitch), spanning nearly 28 mm in length and 400 μ m in width. We report an average intracochlear stimulating current threshold of170 ± 93 μ A to evoke an auditory brainstem response in 7 acutely deafened felines. A total of 10 arrays were each inserted through a round window approach into the cochlea's basal turn of eight felines with one delamination occurring upon insertion (preliminary results of the in vivo data presented at the 48th Annual Meeting American Neurotology Society, Orlando, FL, April 2013, and reported in Van Beek-King 2014). Using microcomputed tomography imaging (50 μ m resolution), distances ranging from 100 to 565 μ m from the cochlea's central modiolus were measured. Our method combines the utility of readily available commercial devices with a straightforward postprocessing step on the order of 24 hours.