Influence of bio-coatings on the recording performance of neural electrodes

Neural probes are complex devices consisting of metallic (often Pt based) electrodes, spread over an insolating/dielectric backbone. Their functionality is often limited in time because of the formation of scaring tissues around the implantation tracks. Functionalization of the probes surface can be used to limit the glial scar reaction. This is however challenging, as this treatment has to be equally efficient on all probe surfaces (metallic as well as dielectric) and should not influence the electrodes performances. This paper presents a novel technique to functionalize recording neural probes with hyaluronic acid (HyA), a major component of the extracellular matrix (ECM). HyA and the probe surface are both modified to make the reaction feasible: HyA is chemically functionalized with SS-pyridine groups while the probe surfaces are silanized. The thiol groups thus introduced on the probe surface can then react with the HyA SS-pyridine group, resulting in a covalent bonding of the latter on the former. The electrodes are protected by introducing a pretreatment step, namely an additional hyaluronic acid layer on the platinum electrode, prior to the silanization process, which was found to be effective in reducing electrode impedance under optimized conditions.