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EP-4501235-B1 - FLEXIBLE NEURAL ELECTRODE COMPOSITE STRUCTURE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREFOR, AND AUXILIARY IMPLANTATION ASSEMBLY

EP4501235B1EP 4501235 B1EP4501235 B1EP 4501235B1EP-4501235-B1

Inventors

  • FANG, YING
  • TIAN, Huihui
  • FANG, Runjiu

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230331

Claims (12)

  1. A flexible neural electrode composite structure (100), comprising: a plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1), each of the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1) comprising an implant part (10) and an auxiliary structure (11) provided on the implant part (10); an auxiliary implantation assembly (2) comprising a plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1), each of the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) comprising an auxiliary implantation end (201) located close to one end of a corresponding flexible neural electrode (1), and the auxiliary implantation end (201) being configured to be assembled with the auxiliary structure (11); and a fixture (3) configured to fix the auxiliary implantation end (201) and the auxiliary structure (11) which have been assembled, characterized in that , the implant part (10) of each of the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1) is a stretchable spiral structure.
  2. The flexible neural electrode composite structure according to claim 1, wherein an extension direction of the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) is not parallel to an extension direction of a plurality of implant parts (10) of the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1).
  3. The flexible neural electrode composite structure according to claim 2, wherein the extension direction of the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) is not parallel to a plane where a plurality of spiral structures is located, wherein the auxiliary structure (11) is located at an end of the stretchable spiral structure.
  4. The flexible neural electrode composite structure according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary implantation end (201) and the auxiliary structure (11) are configured to be assembled with each other by way of plugging-in, wherein the auxiliary implantation end (201) is configured to be partially or completely inserted into the auxiliary structure (11).
  5. The flexible neural electrode composite structure according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary implantation assembly (2) further comprises: an auxiliary fixing member (21) located at one side of the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) away from the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1) and configured to fix the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20).
  6. The flexible neural electrode composite structure according to claim 5, wherein the auxiliary fixing member (21) comprises an auxiliary fixing plate (211), and a plane where the auxiliary fixing plate (211) is located is perpendicular to an extension direction of the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20).
  7. The flexible neural electrode composite structure according to claim 6, wherein the auxiliary fixing plate (211) and the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) are configured to be detachably or fixedly connected, wherein the auxiliary fixing plate (211) is provided with a plurality of openings (212), and the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) comprise fixing ends (202) away from the auxiliary implantation ends (201) along the extension direction of the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20), and the fixing ends (202) are configured to pass through the plurality of openings (212) to be connected with the auxiliary fixing plate (211).
  8. The flexible neural electrode composite structure according to claim 1, wherein at least part of the fixture (3) is located between the auxiliary implantation end (201) and the auxiliary structure (11) to maintain a relative position between the auxiliary implantation end (201) and the auxiliary structure (11), wherein the fixture (3) comprises one or more selected from a group consisting of a photo-meltable material, a thermal-meltable material, a liquid-swellable material and a liquid-dissolvable material.
  9. A manufacturing method of a flexible neural electrode composite structure (100), comprising: providing a plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1), wherein each of the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1) comprises an implant part (10) and an auxiliary structure (11) formed on the implant part (10); forming an auxiliary implantation assembly (2), wherein the auxiliary implantation assembly (2) comprises a plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20), and each of the plurality of auxiliary implantation needles (20) comprises an auxiliary implantation end (201) located at one side of the auxiliary implantation needle (20) close to the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1); assembling the auxiliary implantation end (201) with the auxiliary structure (11); and fixing the auxiliary implantation end (201) and the auxiliary structure (11) which have been assembled, characterized in that , the implant part (10) of each of the plurality of flexible neural electrodes (1) is a stretchable spiral structure.
  10. The manufacturing method according to claim 9, wherein before assembling the auxiliary implantation end with the auxiliary structure, the manufacturing method further comprises: aligning the auxiliary implantation end with the auxiliary structure.
  11. The manufacturing method according to claim 10, wherein aligning the auxiliary implantation end with the auxiliary structure comprises: aligning at least one auxiliary implantation end among a plurality of auxiliary implantation ends with at least one auxiliary structure among a plurality of auxiliary structures.
  12. The manufacturing method according to claim 9, wherein the fixing the auxiliary implantation end and the auxiliary structure which have been assembled comprises: forming a fixture at least at a joint between the auxiliary implantation end and the auxiliary structure.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) The present application is based on and claims the priority of China Patent Application No.202210351875.0 filed on April 2, 2022 and entitled "flexible neural electrode composite structure and manufacturing and implantation method therefor, and auxiliary implantation assembly". TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a technical field of neuroscience, in particular to a flexible neural electrode composite structure, and a manufacturing method . BACKGROUND In recent years, as an important tool for brain function analysis, brain disease treatment and brain-computer interface, implantable neural electrodes have been developed rapidly. However, since traditional implantable neural electrodes are rigid and are not matched with the mechanical properties of the brain tissue, there will be a relative movement between the neural electrode and the brain tissue under the influence of breathing and movement after the neural electrode is implanted in the brain, which will result in considerable damage to the brain tissue around the electrode and further cause inflammatory reactions. When a surface of the electrode is wrapped by immunoproliferative cells, the recorded signals of brain electrodes will be continuously weakened until failed. The paper "Parallel, minimally-invasive implantation of ultraflexible neural electrode arrays" provides a facile implantation method to apply ultraflexible neural probes in scalable neural recording. CN209252829U discloses a flexible implantable biosensor, an implantation needle for optoelectronic devices, and an implantation method thereof. CN114259234A relates to an auxiliary implantation device for high-throughput flexible electrodes and an assembly method thereof, wherein the auxiliary implantation device is used to assist in inserting the flexible electrodes into the brain of a living organism. The paper "A flexible and stretchable kirigami-inspired implantable neural probe with floating microsites for electrophysiology recordings" reports on a Nexible and stretchable neural probe based on polyimide (PI) which has excellent robustness and biocompatibility. Compared with the rigid neural electrode, the flexible neural electrode has mechanical properties more matched with the nerve tissue, which can reduce immune damage to the brain tissue, thus improving the stability of detection of nerve signals and can be used for long-term recording of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. However, how to realize high-throughput and large-scaled implantation of flexible neural electrodes in the brain (and other nerve tissues) is the problem to be solved urgently. SUMMARY It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a flexible neural electrode composite structure, and a manufacturing method. The object is achieved by the features of the respective independent claims. Further embodiments are defined in the corresponding dependent claims. Even though the description refers to embodiments or to the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the claims and embodiments of the invention are those comprising at least all the features of one of the independent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS In order to explain the technical solution of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, the accompanying drawings of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description only relate to some embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a flexible neural electrode composite structure provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the flexible neural electrode composite structure of Fig. 1 taken along dashed plane A.Fig. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the flexible neural electrode composite structure in Fig. 2.Fig. 4A is a partially three-dimensional structural diagram of region b of the flexible neural electrode composite structure of Fig. 1.Fig. 4B is a top view of a flexible neural electrode array of Fig. 1.Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an auxiliary implantation assembly provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.Fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an auxiliary implantation assembly according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a flexible neural electrode composite structure provided by another embodiment of the present disclosure.Fig. 8 is a flowchart of a manufacturing method of a flexible neural electrode composite structure provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a flexible neural electrode formed in a manufacturing method of a flexible neural electrode composite structure provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.Fig. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along l