Wireless Micropower Instrumentation for Multimodal Acquisition of Electrical and Chemical Neural Activity

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical circuits and systems 2009-12, Vol.3 (6), p.388-397
• Main Authors: Mollazadeh, M., Murari, K., Cauwenberghs, G., Thakor, N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquisitions & mergers; Amplification; Bandwidth; biopotential amplifier; Brain computer interfaces; Brain-computer interface (BCI); Central nervous system; Channels; chemical sensing; Chemicals; Couplings; Differential amplifiers; digital telemetry; Dynamical systems; Dynamics; electrocorticogram (ECOG); electroencephalogram (EEG); Gain; inductive coupling; Instrumentation; Instruments; Marketing; micropower instrumentation; Modules; Monitoring; Nervous system; neural interface; Neural pathways; neurotransmitters; Parkinson's disease; potentiostat
• ISSN: 1932-4545; 1940-9990
• DOI: 10.1109/TBCAS.2009.2031877

The intricate coupling between electrical and chemical activity in neural pathways of the central nervous system, and the implication of this coupling in neuropathologies, such as Parkinson's disease, motivates simultaneous monitoring of neurochemical and neuropotential signals. However, to date, neurochemical sensing has been lacking in integrated clinical instrumentation as well as in brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Here, we present an integrated system capable of continuous acquisition of data modalities in awake, behaving subjects. It features one channel each of a configurable neuropotential and a neurochemical acquisition system. The electrophysiological channel is comprised of a 40-dB gain, fully differential amplifier with tunable bandwidth from 140 Hz to 8.2 kHz. The amplifier offers input-referred noise below 2 mu V rms for all bandwidth settings. The neurochemical module features a picoampere sensitivity potentiostat with a dynamic range spanning six decades from picoamperes to microamperes. Both systems have independent on-chip, configurable DeltaSigma analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with programmable digital gain and resolution. The system was also interfaced to a wireless power harvesting and telemetry module capable of powering up the circuits, providing clocks for ADC operation, and telemetering out the data at up to 32 kb/s over 3.5 cm with a bit-error rate of less than 10 -5 . Characterization and experimental results from the electrophysiological and neurochemical modules as well as the full system are presented.