title: Materials approaches for modulating neural tissue responses to implanted microelectrodes through mechanical and biochemical means.
abstract: Implantable intracortical microelectrodes face an uphill struggle for widespread clinical use. Their potential for treating a wide range of traumatic and degenerative neural disease is hampered by their unreliability in chronic settings. A major factor in this decline in chronic performance is a reactive response of brain tissue, which aims to isolate the implanted device from the rest of the healthy tissue. In this review we present a discussion of materials approaches aimed at modulating the reactive tissue response through mechanical and biochemical means. Benefits and challenges associated with these approaches are analyzed, and the importance of multimodal solutions tested in emerging animal models are presented.
authors.affiliation: Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1791.
authors.forename: Salah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sommakia
authors.affiliation: Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1791.
authors.forename: Heui C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1791.
authors.forename: Janak
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gaire
authors.affiliation: Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1791 ; Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1791.
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Otto