Highly Stretchable Hydrogels as Wearable and Implantable Sensors for Recording Physiological and Brain Neural Signals

Advanced Science

Xinrui Huang¹  Dehai Yu¹  Xiguang Sun¹  Guanghong Han²  Samuel M. Mugo³  Qiang Zhang⁴  Quanduo Liang⁴  Xiangjiao Xia⁴  Wei Chen⁴ 

[1] Bethune First Hospital of Jilin University No. 1, Xinmin Street Changchun 130061 P. R. China;Department of Oral Geriatrics Hospital of Stomatology Jilin University Changchun 130021 P. R. China;Department of Physical Sciences MacEwan University Edmonton ABT5J4S2 Canada;State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun 130022 P. R. China;

关键词: brain–machine interface;    hydrogels;    implantable sensors;    microgels;    wearable sensors;   

DOI  :  10.1002/advs.202201059

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Recording electrophysiological information such as brain neural signals is of great importance in health monitoring and disease diagnosis. However, foreign body response and performance loss over time are major challenges stemming from the chemomechanical mismatch between sensors and tissues. Herein, microgels are utilized as large crosslinking centers in hydrogel networks to modulate the tradeoff between modulus and fatigue resistance/stretchability for producing hydrogels that closely match chemomechanical properties of neural tissues. The hydrogels exhibit notably different characteristics compared to nanoparticles reinforced hydrogels. The hydrogels exhibit relatively low modulus, good stretchability, and outstanding fatigue resistance. It is demonstrated that the hydrogels are well suited for fashioning into wearable and implantable sensors that can obtain physiological pressure signals, record the local field potentials in rat brains, and transmit signals through the injured peripheral nerves of rats. The hydrogels exhibit good chemomechanical match to tissues, negligible foreign body response, and minimal signal attenuation over an extended time, and as such is successfully demonstrated for use as long‐term implantable sensory devices. This work facilitates a deeper understanding of biohybrid interfaces, while also advancing the technical design concepts for implantable neural probes that efficiently obtain physiological information.

【 授权许可】

Unknown