A model neural interface based on functional chemical stimulation.

While functional electrical stimulation has been applied to treat a variety of neurological disorders, it cannot mimic function that is primarily achieved using neurochemical means. In this work, we present a neurotransmitter-based prosthetic interface in the form of a flexible microdevice that selectively releases chemical pulses through an aperture in a polymer membrane. The release profiles through the aperture are controlled by microfluidic switching in an underlying channel network. The profiles have been characterized using fluorescence microscopy as a function of pulse duration and frequency. Hippocampal neurons were cultured on the microdevices and cell stimulation via glutamate delivery was detected using calcium imaging. The release properties could be tuned to repeatedly elicit discrete action potentials in cells seeded proximate to the aperture, including single cell stimulation at 2 Hz. This model neural interface based on functional chemical stimulation may provide the biomimetic platform necessary to restore physiological pathways and function that electrical stimulation cannot fundamentally address.