High Magnetic Field Fmri Compliant Carbon Nanofiber Neural Probes

In this work, a carbon nanofiber (CNF) based neural probe compliant with high magnetic field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been demonstrated. The CNF probe has high spatial resolution electrode patterns, which enable extracellular deep brain stimulation (DBS) and detection. As the probe is radio frequency transparent, in-situ DBS and brain imaging can be performed simultaneously. CNF shows 5 times higher neural density in-vitro. 4.7T fMRI has been performed on the CNF neural probes implanted in a rat's brain ex-vivo and no image distortion has been observed under spin or gradient echo modes.