Xie, Chong2020-12-022022-12-012020-122020-12-01December 2Li, Xue. "Ultraflexible neural electrode: advanced application in central and peripheral nervous systems." (2020) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/109596">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/109596</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/109596As the ‘golden standard’ tools in neuroscience, electrophysiology recording affords the advantages of high temporal resolution detection of the neural signal. However, the conventional neural interface has been limited by its instability caused by the mechanical mismatch between the rigid electrode and the soft brain tissue. The ultraflexible neural interface development has enabled a glial-scare free, chronic stable, and multichannel neural interface in the rodent model for over many months. In this work, I further explore applying the ultraflexible neural electrode in both central and peripheral nervous systems. In the central nervous system, neural circuits span diverse spatial scales: they include different types of neurons organized in both nearby clusters and distributed brain regions. Conventional electrodes have limited spatial resolution and spatial coverage due to their high invasiveness and relatively large volume. In this work, we developed two methods to increase spatial resolution and broaden the spatial coverage. First, The scale-up of the ultraflexible neural electrodes enabled both dense volumetric recording and simultaneous large-scale recordings in the same brain, potentially achieving cellular-level functional connectome construction and precise behavior decoding in a chronic setup. Secondly, the combination of the ultraflexible neural interface with cortex-wide cranial window has enabled recording from individual neurons and simultaneous optical imaging in the neocortex for chronic studies. We show that this setting flexibly allows for the concurrent implementation of multiple neural recording and modulation techniques, including spatially resolved recordings at multiple regions and in deep structures, epi-fluorescence imaging across the cortex, two-photon imaging at multiple cortical regions, and optogenetics. In the peripheral nervous system, there are numerous demands for developing high channel count, chronic stable neural interface dependent neuroprosthesis. However, the existed neural interface still lacks the high specificity, high channel count, and chronic stable recording and stimulation capability that a complex neurophtosthesis requires. In this work, we developed two types of peripheral ultraflexible neural probes that can potentially achieve the chronic stable recording with high specificity and high channel count in the peripheral nervous system.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.ultraflexible neural interfaceNETImaging with recordingperipheral neural interfacecortex wide cranial windowhigh density recordingThesis2020-12-02