WIRELESS MICRO-STIMULATOR DEVICE FOR BRAIN STIMULATION

Abstract

In animal behavioral studies, transcranial Direct Current Stimulations (TDCS) & deep-brain stimulations (DBS) research has traditionally relied on the use of a cable tether, for connecting an awake animal to the stimulating hardware. Such methods can reduce animal mobility and increase stress and require a particular arena for accommodating the animal tether. The wireless stimulation system allows much more direct interaction between the animal and its environment, which could result in greatly enhanced performance. In this study a versatile, light weight, inexpensive multichannel wireless system is developed. A wireless Micro-stimulator is fabricated based on a new WIFI based module esp8266. It is a voltage controlled current simulator with the amplitude up to 350μA (0.1μA resolution), pulse per train 1-40, pulse Frequency 30-170 Hz and pulse duration approx. 0.1-0.4ms. Different waveforms can be generated by the stimulator, including monophasic, biphasic and triangular waves. Weight of the stimulator is under 20g. Lastly, a better stimulator with easily available components and better performance has been fabricated to enable detailed study of animal brains in future.