WO2024021326A1

WO2024021326A1 - Composite microneedle structure and neural microelectrode

Info

Publication number: WO2024021326A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/126573
Authority: WO
Inventors: 黄立; 黄晟; 童贝
Original assignee: 武汉衷华脑机融合科技发展有限公司
Priority date: 2022-07-25
Filing date: 2022-10-21
Publication date: 2024-02-01
Also published as: CN115429282B; CN115429282A

Abstract

Disclosed are a composite microneedle structure and a neural microelectrode. The composite microneedle structure is used for implanting a microelectrode into nervous tissue. The composite microneedle structure comprises a hard needle and a soft needle; a clamping groove structure is arranged at a front end of the hard needle, and a clamping strip structure is arranged at a front end of the soft needle, wherein the clamping strip structure can be clamped to the clamping groove structure, so that the hard needle brings the soft needle into the tissue, and then the hard needle is pulled out. According to the technical solution provided by the present invention, the soft needle can be brought into the nervous tissue by means of the hard needle, and then the hard needle is pulled out, so that the defect that a single hard needle or soft needle is adopted can be avoided, the soft needle and the hard needle can be well fixed, the soft needle is prevented from warping to a certain degree, and importantly, the hard needle is conveniently pulled out, and meanwhile small damage to the tissue can be ensured.

Description

A composite microneedle structure and neural microelectrode

Technical field

The invention relates to the field of biomedical engineering technology and brain-computer interface neural microelectrodes, in particular to a composite microneedle structure and neural microelectrodes.

Background technique

At present, most invasive microneedle structures are single-type electrodes, such as Michigan electrodes and Utah electrodes with hard needle structures, and polyimide electrodes with soft needle structures.

Hard needles (rigid needles) cannot adapt to the expansion and contraction of blood vessels during implantation, and may cause certain damage to neural tissue; while soft needle structures are prone to deformation during implantation, requiring the use of external equipment to assist implantation. However, there are problems such as complex structure and low efficiency.

Contents of the invention

The main purpose of the present invention is to propose a composite microneedle structure, which is designed to bring soft needles into neural tissue through hard needles, and then pull out the hard needles, which can avoid the defects of using a single hard needle or soft needle, and can The soft needle and the hard needle should be well fixed to prevent the soft needle from warping to a certain extent. The important thing is to facilitate the hard needle to be pulled out while ensuring that the damage to the nerve tissue is small.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a composite microneedle structure for microelectrodes implanted in neural tissue. The composite microneedle structure includes:

Hard needle, the front end of the hard needle is provided with a slot structure; and

Soft needle, the front end of the soft needle is provided with a clip structure;

Wherein, the clip structure can be clipped into the clip structure, so that the hard needle can bring the soft needle into the nerve tissue, and then the hard needle can be pulled out.

Optionally, both the hard needle and the soft needle have a structure with a narrow front end and a wide rear end.

Optionally, a convex cavity is provided on the upper surface of the front end of the hard needle, the upper end of the convex cavity is open, and grooves are provided on both inner walls of the convex cavity near the bottom wall to form a slot structure.

Optionally, the front end of the hard needle is configured as a tip for entering neural tissue.

Optionally, a stopper is provided at the rear end of the slot structure, and both ends in the extension direction of the stopper are flush with both outer side walls of the convex cavity to form a closed structure.

Optionally, the lower surface of the front end of the soft needle is provided with a "T" shaped protrusion to form a clip structure.

Optionally, the lower surface of the hard needle and the upper surface of the soft needle are both set as smooth planes.

Optionally, the front end of the soft needle is set as a tip, the side wall of the front section of the soft needle against the tip is provided with barbs, and the barb tips are inclined backward.

Optionally, the clamping groove structure is an elongated cylinder, the clamping strip structure is a hollow annular tube, and the inner diameter of the hollow annular tube is equal to the diameter of the elongated cylinder.

The present invention also proposes a neural microelectrode. The neural microelectrode includes the composite microneedle structure. The composite microneedle structure includes: a hard needle, the front end of the hard needle is provided with a slot structure; and a soft needle. The front end of the soft needle is provided with a clamping strip structure; wherein the clamping strip structure can be clamped into the slot structure, so that the hard needle can bring the soft needle into the nervous tissue, and then the hard needle can be pulled out.

In the technical solution of the present invention, a slot structure is provided at the front end of the hard needle, and a clamping strip structure is arranged at the front end of the soft needle. The slot structure and the clamping strip structure can cooperate with each other to achieve clamping. Therefore, the technical solution of the present invention The soft needle can be brought into the nerve tissue through the hard needle, and then the hard needle can be pulled out, which can not only avoid the shortcomings of using a single hard needle or soft needle, but also can well fix the soft needle and the hard needle to prevent the soft needle from occurring to a certain extent. The important thing is to facilitate the extraction of the hard needle while ensuring less damage to the nerve tissue.

Description of drawings

In order to explain the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art more clearly, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only These are some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without exerting creative efforts.

Figure 1 is a three-dimensional schematic view of an embodiment of the composite microneedle structure provided by the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the front end of the hard needle and the soft needle in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the hard needle in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the hard needle A in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the hard needle B in Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the soft needle in Figure 1;

Figure 7 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the front end of the soft needle in Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the composite microneedle structure in Figure 1.

Explanation of reference numbers in the embodiments provided by the present invention:

标号label	名称 name	标号label		名称name
100100	复合微针结构 Composite microneedle structure	1313	挡块 Stoppers
11	硬针 hard needle	22	软针 soft needle
1111	卡槽结构Card slot structure	21twenty one	卡条结构 card strip structure
1212	凸腔convex cavity	22twenty two	凸起 bulge
122122	凹槽groove

The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of the present invention will be further described with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

Detailed ways

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

It should be noted that if the embodiments of the present invention involve directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back...), then the directional indications are only used to explain the position of a certain posture (as shown in the drawings). The relative positional relationship, movement conditions, etc. between the components under the display). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

In addition, if there are descriptions involving “first”, “second”, etc. in the embodiments of the present invention, the descriptions of “first”, “second”, etc. are only for descriptive purposes and shall not be understood as indications or implications. Its relative importance or implicit indication of the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of these features. In addition, the meaning of "and/or" appearing throughout the text includes three parallel solutions. Taking "A and/or B" as an example, it includes solution A, or solution B, or a solution that satisfies both A and B at the same time. In addition, the technical solutions in various embodiments can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the realization by those of ordinary skill in the art. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be realized, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist. , nor within the protection scope required by the present invention.

As a sensor device, invasive neural microelectrodes are currently one of the highest resolution methods of sensing neural electrical activity. They can record the action potentials of the nervous system or even single neurons without damaging the nervous system as much as possible. At present, most invasive microneedle structures are single-type electrodes, such as Michigan electrodes and Utah electrodes with hard needle structures, and polyimide electrodes with soft needle structures. Hard needles (rigid needles) cannot adapt to the expansion and contraction of blood vessels during implantation, and may cause certain damage to neural tissue; while soft needle structures are prone to deformation during implantation, requiring the use of external equipment to assist implantation. However, there are problems such as complex structure and low efficiency.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a composite microneedle structure 100, which is convenient and safe for implantation of microelectrodes. Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 8 , which illustrate specific embodiments of the composite microneedle structure 100 provided by the present invention.

It should be noted that in the following embodiments, the up and down directions of the composite microneedle structure 100 correspond to the vertical direction, that is, the direction of gravity; the front and rear directions and left and right directions of the composite microneedle structure 100 correspond to the front and rear directions and left and right directions of the user respectively. Towards.

Please refer to Figure 1. The present invention provides a composite microneedle structure 100. The composite microneedle structure 100 includes a hard needle 1 and a soft needle 2. The front end of the hard needle 1 is provided with a slot structure 11. The soft needle 2 The front end is provided with a clamping strip structure 21; wherein, the clamping strip structure 21 can be clamped into the slot structure 11, so that the hard needle 1 can bring the soft needle 2 into the nerve tissue, and then the hard needle 1 can be pulled out.

In the technical solution of the present invention, the front end of the hard needle 1 is provided with a clamping groove structure 11, and the front end of the soft needle 2 is provided with a clamping strip structure 21. The clamping strip structure 21 can cooperate with the clamping slot structure 11 for clamping. When the hard needle 1 enters the nerve tissue of the human body, the card strip connected with the slot of the hard needle 1 drives the soft needle 2 to enter the nerve tissue together, and then the hard needle 1 is pulled out, which can avoid using a single hard needle 1 or The defect of the soft needle 2 can well fix the soft needle 2 and the hard needle 1, preventing the soft needle 2 from warping to a certain extent. The important thing is to facilitate the extraction of the hard needle 1, and at the same time ensure that the damage to the nerve tissue is small. .

In the technical solution of the present invention, the hard needle 1 is a Michigan electrode. In this embodiment, the material of the slot is not limited. Under different application requirements, the slot and strip are made of materials with good biological properties. Compatible and biodegradable materials or silicone materials, of course, other neuro-safe materials are also feasible. The hard needle 1 and the clamping slot structure 11 are fixedly connected or integrally formed. The hard needle 1 and the clamping slot structure 11 and the soft needle 2 and the clamping strip structure 21 are also fixedly connected or integrally formed. When the clamping slot structure 11 and the clamping strip structure 21 When the clamping strip structures 21 are clamped together, the hard needle 1 and the soft needle 2 can move together in the nervous tissue.

In order to facilitate the implantation of the composite microneedle into the nervous tissue of the human body while maintaining the structural performance of the microelectrode, please refer to Figure 1. In this embodiment, the hard needle 1 is a Michigan electrode, and the Michigan electrode is A number of silicon needles with multiple recording channels are assembled into a three-dimensional electrode array, and a process surface is made on the surface to form a structure similar to a cuboid. In this embodiment, a slender implant section is provided at the front end of the similar cuboid structure. Therefore, the front end of the hard needle 1 is narrow and the rear end is wide. This design can more conveniently penetrate the hard needle 1 into the nervous tissue of the human body. The soft needle 2 is made of SiN material and is flexible. Although it is inconvenient to penetrate into nerve tissue, it has good prospects in terms of biocompatibility. The shape of the soft needle 2 is the same as that of the hard needle 1. , smaller than the hard needle 1, so that it can be easily snapped onto the hard needle 1 without falling off.

Further, in one embodiment, please refer to Figure 8. In order to ensure that the hard needle 1 and the soft needle 2 are firmly connected and will not fall off during implantation, a convex is provided on the upper surface of the front end of the hard needle 1. Cavity 12, the upper end of the convex cavity 12 is open, and grooves 122 are provided on both inner walls of the convex cavity 12 near the bottom wall to form an engaging portion of the slot structure 11, and the clamping strip is inserted into the cavity 12. Cavity 12 to achieve snap connection. The engaging portions on the slot structure 11 may be arranged in segments, or of course may be integrated and not segmented.

Please refer to Figure 4 and Figure 5. In a further embodiment, the front end of the hard needle 1 is set to be similar to a tapered tip, and the front end of the hard needle 1 gradually decreases slowly in the horizontal direction to form a tip to make the slot The structure 11 has reduced resistance when entering the nervous tissue, thereby facilitating the entry of the hard needle 1. Since the hard needle 1 and the soft needle 2 are connected through the slot structure 11 and the clip structure 21, it also facilitates the entry of the soft needle 2. .

Further, in one embodiment, please refer to FIG. 4 , a stopper 13 is provided at the rear end of the slot structure 11 , and both ends of the stopper 13 in the extending direction are flush with both outer side walls of the protruding cavity 12 . Flat, the shape of the stopper 13 is not limited. In this embodiment, it is preferably a rectangular parallelepiped shape. The height of the stopper 13 in the up and down direction is the same as the height of the convex cavity 12. The left and right sides of the stopper 13 The end is sealingly connected with the left and right outer walls of the protruding cavity 12, so that the stopper 13 and the protruding cavity 12 form a closed structure. When the clip is stuck into the protruding cavity 12, the stopper 13 can prevent the clip structure 21 from sliding out of the slot structure 11, and prevent the soft needle 2 from sliding out of the nerve tissue.

In order to ensure that the clamping strip structure 21 of the soft needle 2 can match the clamping groove structure 11 of the hard needle 1 and the clamping is firm, in this embodiment, please refer to Figure 8. The size of the clamping strip structure 21 is consistent with the required size. The shape of the slot structure 11 is matched. The lower surface of the front end of the soft needle 2 is provided with an inverted "T" shaped protrusion 22 along the front and rear direction, that is, a strip of protrusion 22 is formed on the lower surface of the front end of the soft needle 2. The cross section of the lower end of the protrusion 22 becomes wider, and the cross section is similar to an inverted "T". The length of the left and right directions of the protrusion 22 is the same as the depth of the recess of the groove 122, so that the protrusion 22 just snaps into the groove 122 to achieve snap-in and prevent During the movement, the soft needle 2 slides out from the hard needle 1. The clamping strip structure 21 may also be a strip-shaped bump protruding from the surface of the soft needle 2 .

Further, in one embodiment, please refer to FIG. 1 , the lower surface of the hard needle 1 and the upper surface of the soft needle 2 are both set as smooth planes. The upper surface is coated with a smooth coating, thereby reducing resistance when the hard needle 1 drives the soft needle 2 to invade the nerve tissue, and at the same time reducing damage to the nerve tissue.

Further, in one embodiment, please refer to Figures 6 and 7, the front end of the soft needle 2 is set as a tip, and this design matches the tip of the front end of the hard needle 1, so that the shape matches when clamped, and It will not increase resistance to implantation. The front side wall of the soft needle 2 is provided with barbs, and the barb tip is tilted backward. This design is conducive to the entry of the soft needle 2 driven by the hard needle 1. Nerve tissue, after pulling out the hard needle 1, the soft needle 2 can be stable in the nerve tissue and will not swing randomly.

In order to make the hard needle 1 and the soft needle 2 more firmly connected, and at the same time facilitate the easy implantation of the composite microneedle into the neural tissue, further, in this embodiment, the size of the clamping strip structure 21 is different from that of the clamping groove structure 11 Specifically, the length of the clip structure 21 in the front-to-back direction is slightly shorter than the clip structure 11, so that when the hard needle 1 is implanted into the nerve tissue, the soft needle 2 can be driven into the nerve tissue, and The soft needle 2 will not be stuck outside; the width of the clamping strip structure 21 in the left and right direction is slightly smaller than the clamping groove structure 11, so that the protrusion 22 of the clamping strip structure 21 can be clamped into the convex cavity 12 of the clamping slot; The thickness of the clamping strip structure 21 in the up and down direction is substantially equal to or slightly smaller than the thickness of the clamping slot structure 11 in the up and down direction. In this way, the clamping strip structure 21 can be tightly connected with the clamping slot structure 11, and the nerve is implanted. Will not fall off when organized.

In this embodiment, the slot structure 11 is an elongated cylinder, the clip structure 21 is a hollow annular tube, and the inner diameter of the hollow annular tube is equal to the diameter of the elongated cylinder. The slender cylindrical slot structure 11 can just be inserted into the clamping strip structure 21 of the hollow annular tube. At the same time, the rear end of the slot structure 11 is provided with a second stopper. The shape of the second stopper is not limited. It can be annular or convex, and the second stopper can prevent the soft needle 2 from sliding out when it is brought into the nervous tissue by the hard needle 1 .

The present invention also proposes a neural microelectrode. The neural microelectrode includes the composite microneedle structure as described above. The composite microneedle structure specifically refers to the above embodiments. Since the neural microelectrode adopts all the above implementations, All the technical solutions of the above embodiments also have all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not limit the patent scope of the present invention. Under the inventive concept of the present invention, equivalent structural transformations can be made using the contents of the description and drawings of the present invention, or direct/indirect applications. Other related technical fields are included in the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

A composite microneedle structure for microelectrodes implanted in neural tissue, characterized in that the composite microneedle structure includes:

Hard needle, the front end of the hard needle is provided with a slot structure; and

Soft needle, the front end of the soft needle is provided with a clip structure;

Wherein, the clip structure can be clipped into the clip structure, so that the hard needle can bring the soft needle into the nerve tissue, and then the hard needle can be pulled out.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 1, wherein the hard needles and the soft needles have a narrow front end and a wide rear end.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 2, wherein the front end of the hard needle is set as a tip so as to enter the nervous tissue.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 1, wherein a convex cavity is provided on the upper surface of the front end of the hard needle, the upper end of the convex cavity is open, and both inner walls of the convex cavity are provided with a protruding cavity near the bottom wall. Grooves to form a slot structure.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 4, wherein a stopper is provided at the rear end of the slot structure, and the left and right ends of the stopper are flush with the two outer side walls of the convex cavity.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface of the front end of the soft needle is provided with a "T"-shaped protrusion along the front-to-back direction to form a clip structure.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface of the hard needle and the upper surface of the soft needle are both arranged as smooth planes.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 1, wherein the front end of the soft needle is set as a tip, the side wall of the front section of the soft needle against the tip is provided with barbs, and the barb tips are backward. tilt.
The composite microneedle structure according to claim 1, wherein the size of the clamping strip structure matches the size of the clamping groove structure.
A neural microelectrode, characterized in that the neural microelectrode includes the composite microneedle structure according to any one of claims 1 to 9.