Drug Delivery Series
Silicon probes carrying a fluidic channel alongside the electrode array, so that a compound is delivered and its effect recorded at the same site without repositioning.
Why the channel and the array share a shank
Delivering a compound at one site and recording at another leaves a gap that the experiment then has to argue across. Mounting a fluidic tube on the probe closes it: the delivery port and the recording sites occupy the same anatomical location, so the response is measured where the compound arrived, on one insertion.
One insertion also means one tract, one inflammatory response, and a fixed spatial relationship between port and sites for the whole session.
The fluidic path
A stainless steel tube is mounted on the lower side of the array, with the delivery port at the distal end. The coupling is a Luer taper, which takes a standard syringe pump; delivery is typically pressure-based, and flow rate and volume are set on the pump rather than by the probe. The port tip is cut at 90° as standard, with a 45° option.
An optical fibre can be laminated onto the probe where optical stimulation is needed alongside delivery.
What to plan for
- Volume displaces tissue. The infusate occupies space the brain does not have; rate and volume are experimental variables affecting the recording, not just the pharmacology.
- The port is at one depth. Spread is by diffusion and bulk flow from that point, not along the array.
Specifications
Three catalog designs, all built on a 16-channel array with 177 µm² sites: E16-10mm-25-177,
E16-10mm-50-177, E16-20mm-100-177. Silicon, 15 µm. Total probe thickness ≈185 µm; implantable
length 15–18 mm; electrode coverage 1.5 mm. Packages D16, DM16, OD16LP.
Research use only.