System-on-chip design of the cortical-diencephalic centre of the lower urinary tract

• Published in: Computers in biology and medicine 2018-08, Vol.99, p.107-122
• Main Authors: Pérez, Francisco Maciá, Méndez, Leandro Zambrano, Berná Martínez, José Vicente, Lima, Roberto Sepúlveda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Black boxes; Computer simulation; Cortex; Cortical-diencephalic centre; Design; Embedded systems; Field programmable gate arrays; FPGA; Hardware; Human behavior; Interneurons; Nervous system; Neuroregulatory system; Organs; Spinal cord; System on chip; Urinary tract; Urogenital system; Viability
• ISSN: 0010-4825; 1879-0534
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2018.06.007

This article presents the design of a field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based prototype of a system on chip (SoC) capable of behaving as one of the nerve centres comprising the neuroregulatory system in humans: the cortical-diencephalic nerve centre. The neuroregulatory system is a complex nerve system consisting of a heterogeneous group of nerve centres. These centres are distributed throughout the length of the spinal cord, are autonomous, communicate via interneurons, and govern and regulate the behaviour of multiple organs and systems in the human body. As a result of years of study of the functioning and composition of the neuroregulatory system of the lower urinary tract (LUT), the centres that regulate this system have been isolated. The objective of this study is to understand the individual functioning of each centre in order to create a general model of the neuroregulatory system that is capable of operating at the level of the actual nerve centre. This model represents an advancement of the current black box models that do not allow for isolated or independent treatment of system dysfunction. In this study, we re-visit our research into the viability of the hardware design of one of these centres—the cortical-diencephalic centre. We describe this hardware because functioning of the centre is completely configurable and programmable, which validates the design for other centres that comprise the neuroregulatory system. In this document, we succinctly present the formal model of the centre, propose a hardware design and an FPGA-based prototype, construct a testing and simulation environment to evaluate it and, lastly, analyse and contrast the results using data obtained from real patients, verifying that the functional behaviour fits that observed in humans. •We propose a configurable and programmable hardware design of the Cortical-Diencephalic centre.•We have implemented a prototype of the hardware design on FPGA system.•We have constructed a testing and simulation environment.•We analysed the results and verified that the verifying that the functional behaviour fits that observed in humans.