ABSTRACT
The field of neuroprosthetics has important applications in medicine and
science. In clinical settings, neural stimulation and recording implants promise
to introduce new capabilities in restoring functions of the central nervous
system (CNS) lost to trauma or disease. In basic research settings, neuropros-
thetic devices remain one of the most important tools for those neuroscientists
who work to elucidate the brain’s functions. Clinical therapies using neural
stimulation include cochlear stimulation for the deaf [1-2]; epidural spinal
stimulation for the treatment of pain [3]; cortical or vagus nerve stimulation for
epilepsy [4-5]; and several other emerging indications including retinal stimu-
lation for the blind [6-7]. Neural stimulation in the brain has an established
clinical history and has helped many patients lead a normal life. Deep brain
stimulation, for example, targets the subthalamic nucleus to treat Parkinson’s
disease [8] and has also been shown efficacious for depression [9] and obesity
[10-11]. In neuroscience, neuroprostheses have been used primarily as neural
recording elements, which permit the acquisition of signals from a large number
of single units or neuron ensembles in order to study network behaviour [12-13]
or control robotic prostheses [14-15]. Many of these clinical and scientific appli-
cations have been enabled by, or can be improved with, the small size and density
of electrode sites that microfabrication technology enables.
