Affiliations: State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Wenguang Zhang, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Tel.: +86 21 34204851; E-mail:zhwg@sjtu.edu.cn
Abstract: During the process that neural probes are implanted, the
insertion will cause acute injury of brain tissue and then trigger reactive
responses, which may lead to degradation of the recording signals. In this
paper, the process of neural probe's insertion into brain was simulated by
developing a nonlinear finite element model. An element deletion method
based on maximum shear stress criterion was utilized as the failure
mechanism of brain tissue. It was found that as the wedge angle of the probe
increases, the injury of brain tissue becomes larger. Besides, faster
insertion speed leads to less tissue injury. The probe stiffness, however,
gives a negligible effect on tissue injury. The results are helpful to
minimize the insertion trauma based on optimal design of insertion
parameters and neural probe physical characteristics.
Keywords: Neural probe, insertion process, finite element
