| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ABE Keiko The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Professor, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 教授 (10151094)
KAGA Kimitaka The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine, Professor, 大学院・医学系研究科, 教授 (80082238)
NAKAO Masayuki The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Engineering, Professor, 大学院・工学系研究科, 教授 (90242007)
|
|---|
| Research Abstract |
The objective of the present study is to establish design guidelines for developing neural prosthesis that restores lost sensory functions due to disorders of sensory cells or pathways. The achievements of the study are summarized as follows. First, we developed an experimental animal model of the auditory brainstem implant (ABI) that directly stimulates the cochlear nucleus in the brainstem to restore the hearing of deaf patients who had their auditory nerves removed. The model included a surface microelectrode array for auditory cortical recording and a spike microelectrode arrray for the microstimulation in the cochlear nucleus. Second, using the ABI model of rats, we demonstrated that the cochlear nuclear microstirnulation could evoke spatio-temporal neural activity in the auditory cortex and the proper stimulation could take after the pure-tone-evoked activation, suggesting that the stimulation could induce a pitch and intensity sensation and thus substantially verifying the capab
… More
ility of ABI Third, we proposed and verified "the multiple gating stimulation," which can selectively activate nerves placing in between electrodes. The technique broadly generated action potentials with "the cathodic sourte electrodes," and simultaneously blocked unnecessary propagation with "the anodic gate electrodes," resulting in selective propagation in between electrodes. We demonstrated the feasibility via simulations with nerve equations and in vivo experiments of rat spinal cord stimulation Forth, our cortical auditory evoked potential (AEP) mapping demonstrated that the rat auditory cortex is divided into the multiple auditory fields, which represent the information of test tones in their respective manner. Fifth, we combined theoretical and experimental works to better understand the spatio-tempomal neuronal activation. We interpreted the contradictory MLR neurogenesis and their various morphologies particularly within early latency, and finally suggested that they were determined by combination of three activities: cortical firing activities, cortical synaptic activities, and other activities far from cortex. Less
|
