Foster-Miller proposes to develop the fabrication and assembly processes for mass produced, inexpensive, neurotrophic electrodes that can be used for exchanging information with central nerve tissue. Neurotrophic electrodes are designed to record from individual or multiple axon potentials recorded across a pair of wires inside its glass, conical tip. Current neurotrophic electrodes are manufactured by hand using small conical pieces of pulled glass pipettes and adding wire electrodes which are cemented in place. A batch process, based on photolithographic techniques would allow mass production of hundreds of these devices with many more electrodes per device than is currently possible. A dimensionally stable, biocompatible material for use in planar technology manufacturing has recently been identified based on Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) thermoplastics. LCP, when processed into thin, isotropic sheets, is a near ideal substrate material for nerve implants. This material can be processed in similar fashion to printed circuit boards and integrated circuits using photolithographic methods. Development of LCP based neurotrophic electrode arrays will enable expansion of existing research programs, creation of new areas of application, and enable many research groups to contribute to the development of neuroprostheses based on neurotrophic electrodes. ? ?
