Soft Transparent Microelectrode Platform s for Electrical and Optical Bio interfacing
Open AccessHeart disease kills nearly 700,000 people in the United States each year, with an estimated annual cost of $219 billion. There is an urgent need to develop advanced tools and platforms that can unravel complex pathophysiology, facilitate intraoperative or postsurgical monitoring, and provide effective and timely clinical treatments.Optogenetics and optical mapping are two powerful tools to investigate the heart, providing unparalleled spatial resolution to modulate or probe cardiac physiology. This feature can greatly complement the lack of spatial resolution in electrophysiology. On the other hand, electrophysiology, as the gold standard for clinical use, can help researchers better tap the potential of these optical biotechnologies in diagnosis and treatment. However, developing such technology that can bridge electrophysiology and opto-physiology at the cardiac interface remains limited and challenging.Soft, transparent, and biocompatible microelectrode arrays (MEAs) show great promise in tackling this challenge, as they enable simultaneous optical and electrical investigation of cell/tissue from the same field of view and visualize the spatiotemporal distribution of cardiac dynamics with multiple parameters. This capability is critical for studying and developing new treatments for heart disease. Although some progress has been made, the advancement of such MEAs for heart-interfacing remains limited. This dissertation introduces a series of soft transparent microelectrode-based platforms for multimodal cardiac sensing, mapping, and modulation. This work includes flexible, stretchable, and bioresorbable electronics. The functionalities of the devices involve 1) simultaneous and colocalized electrophysiological recording during optogenetic modulation, and 2) concurrent electrical and optical mapping of cardiac physiology. Furthermore, we combine light source and transparent sensors into one integrated system through multi-layer structure to achieve 3) simultaneous electrical mapping and muti-site optical pacing in vivo. In addition to long-term applications, we develop 4) a heart implant that can monitor, treat arrhythmia, and then dissolve away in the body. This bioresorbable device enables synchronized electrical mapping and pacing during clinically relevant periods and avoids the risks/costs associated with secondary surgery. Validation of these devices/platforms includes ex vivo and in vivo demonstrations. Biological models involve mice, rats, and human donor ventricular slices.
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