Implantable Optical Stimulation Device for Cell-Type Specific Neuromodulation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Electrode-based brain stimulation techniques face challenges due to the distributed nature of neurons, leading to indiscriminate stimulation and mechanical instability, while light-activated methods require invasive procedures and large devices, compromising minimally invasive and comfortable treatments.
Innovation Solution
An implantable device with a light-generation system and photosensitive bio-molecular structures that stimulate target cells in vivo, using gene transfer vectors to induce expression of light-sensitive proteins, allowing for precise control of neuronal activity through light exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If electrode-based stimulation is used, then electrical signals can be delivered to neurons, but stimulation is indiscriminate and affects multiple neuron types due to distributed neural architecture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical electrode-based electrical stimulation with optical stimulation using light-activated ion channels. This substitution enables cell-type specific stimulation through genetic targeting of photosensitive proteins to particular neuron populations, eliminating the indiscriminate nature of electrical field-based approaches while maintaining stimulation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by genetically expressing light-sensitive ion channels specifically in target neuron types through promoter-driven transcription. This ensures that only the intended cell population responds to optical stimulation, providing precise cell-type specificity without affecting adjacent neurons that lack the photosensitive proteins.
2Measurement precision
If electrodes are placed close to target neurons for precise stimulation, then spatial resolution improves, but mechanical stability deteriorates leading to lead migration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical electrode system with an optical system delivered through fiber optic cables or free-space illumination. This eliminates the mechanical connection between stimulation device and target tissue, removing the source of lead migration while maintaining precise spatial resolution through targeted light delivery to genetically modified neurons.
3Use of energy by moving object
If voltage, frequency or pulse width is increased to compensate for electrode encapsulation, then power delivery to target cells improves, but unintended stimulation of additional cells increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces electrical field-based stimulation with optical stimulation through light-activated ion channels. This substitution provides inherent spatial confinement of stimulation effects to only those cells expressing the photosensitive proteins, eliminating the spread of electrical current that causes off-target stimulation while maintaining effective power delivery to the intended target population.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality through genetic expression patterns that restrict light-sensitive ion channel presence to specific cell types. This ensures that optical energy only produces physiological effects in the intended target cells, preventing harmful off-target stimulation even when higher power levels are used to overcome tissue attenuation.
4Illumination intensity
If large devices are used for light generation and delivery, then sufficient light intensity reaches target cells, but invasiveness of the procedure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces fiber optic cables as intermediaries to deliver light from external or implanted light sources to the target tissue. This intermediary approach allows concentrated light delivery to deep brain structures through small bore access, reducing surgical invasiveness while maintaining sufficient illumination intensity at the target site through the guiding properties of optical fibers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the light delivery system into separate functional components: an external or remotely implanted light source and a minimally invasive fiber optic delivery catheter. This segmentation allows the bulky light-generating components to be positioned outside the critical treatment area, with only the thin fiber needing to traverse tissue, thereby reducing overall procedural invasiveness while maintaining adequate light intensity at the target.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise and minimally invasive neuromodulation, effectively targeting specific cell types without stimulating adjacent cells, improving treatment efficacy for various medical conditions, including Parkinson's disease and diabetes, by using light to control neuronal activity with reduced invasiveness and increased precision.
Implementation Method 1
photosensitive bio-molecular structures that respond to the generated light by stimulating target cells in vivo
Implementation Method 2
light activated proteins can be used to control the flow of ions through cell membranes. By facilitating or inhibiting the flow of positive or negative ions through cell membranes, the cell can be briefly depolarized, depolarized and maintained in that state, or hyperpolarized
Implementation Method 3
The device has a light generator, responsive to (for example, charged by or triggered by) an external signal, to generate light and a biological arrangement that includes the photosensitive bio-molecular protein
Data Source
AI summary
Stimulation of target cells using light, e.g., in vivo, is implemented using a variety of methods and devices. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, target cells are stimulated using an implantable arrangement. The arrangement includes an electrical light-generation means for generating light and a biological portion. The biological portion has a photosensitive bio-molecular arrangement that responds to the generated light by stimulating target cells in vivo.