Fully Implantable Deep Brain Stimulation System with Wireless Power Transmission for Long-term Use in Rodent Models of Parkinson's Disease

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study to develop new deep-brain stimulation system for long-term use in animals, in order to develop a variety of neural prostheses. METHODS Our system has two distinguished features, which are the fully implanted system having wearable wireless power transfer and ability to change the parameter of stimulus parameter. It is useful for obtaining a variety of data from a long-term experiment. RESULTS To validate our system, we performed pre-clinical test in Parkinson's disease-rat models for 4 weeks. Through the in vivo test, we observed the possibility of not only long-term implantation and stability, but also free movement of animals. We confirmed that the electrical stimulation neither caused any side effect nor damaged the electrodes. CONCLUSION We proved possibility of our system to conduct the long-term pre-clinical test in variety of parameter, which is available for development of neural prostheses.