ABSTRACT
Implanted medical devices that interface with the nervous system are used to diagnose and treat a wide variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders and impairments. In addition to marketed devices, there is a robust pipeline for neural interface devices designed to treat new disease indications in nonclinical or clinical study evaluation. The dynamics of the innate tissue response and attempts to mitigate the response to improve device performance have primarily been studied in animal models. The chapter explores the knowledge gained to date from histological studies of the response to implanted electrodes. It reviews what has been reported to date in terms of acute and long-term imaging of implanted, penetrating electrodes. The chapter describes advanced optical imaging techniques allow in vivo longitudinal assessment of biological responses without the limitations. Advanced imaging techniques have been successfully applied to the study of normal neural structure and function.
