Speaker: Johnathon Huff
Advisor: Prof. J. Capadona
Title: Characterizing and Differentiating the Physiological Response in Injuries Induced by Intracortical Microelectrode Implantation
Abstract: The physiological response of the brain due to intracortical microelectrode (IME) implantation is a key cause of IME failure. While biologically mediated responses to the presence of the implant have been studied extensively, the contributions of component injuries (e.g., due to craniotomy or insertion damage) has not been well-characterized. This study aims to identify the contributions of each injury to the neuroinflammatory response observed around IME devices. We expect this work to assist in improving IME designs and implant strategies for mitigating inflammatory signals and improving IME performance. Rats received an IME implantation in the motor cortex with 2 other quadrants receiving a stab wound and craniotomy respectively. A final quadrant was uninjured to represent healthy brain tissue in the animals that had undergone surgery. Animals that had not undergone any procedure were used as a control. Bulk transcriptomics was performed on extracted tissue to identify which genes and pathways were differentially expressed due to each injury type. When compared to control tissue, all sites, including the healthy tissue, had upregulation of inflammatory markers at all timepoints. The injury sites saw no significant reduction in inflammation from 2 to 16 weeks post injury. Our results indicate that the overall response seen by IME implantation has a strong root in the response caused by the acute wounds. Additionally, the presence of inflammatory markers in the healthy tissue suggests the response induced by IMEs may be more far reaching and less limited to a local response. This new insight could lead to more targeted research in understanding how the whole brain reacts to IME implantation.