Miniaturized Wireless Sensor Monitors Brain Oxygen Instantly

A wireless sensor gives second-by-second readings of oxygen levels in the brain. The new microsensor could become the basis for tiny devices to help test drugs and other treatments for patients with traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other conditions.

The most common method currently used for monitoring brain neurochemical levels is microdialysis, a technique that requires insertion of a relatively big probe into the brain. This technique, however, has several disadvantages including low sample rate and the necessity of a complex analytical apparatus.

Pier Andrea Serra, from the department of neuroscience, medical school, University of Sassari (Sassari, Italy), and colleagues described development and testing in laboratory rats of a wireless sensor that overcomes some of the disadvantages of microdialysis. The scientists used a variety of techniques--including physiologic stimuli and pharmacologic treatments--to raise or lower brain oxygen levels.

A miniaturized biotelemetric device was used for the amperometric detection of brain tissue oxygen. The system was coupled with a carbon microsensor for real-time detection of dissolved O2 in the striatum of freely moving rats. The implantable device consists of a single-supply sensor driver, a current-to-voltage converter, a microcontroller, and a miniaturized data transmitter.

The study appeared online in February 2009 in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

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