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. 2015 Feb 10;9:8. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2015.00008

Table 1.

Comparison of our wireless stimulation system with other available wireless optogenetic stimulators.

Our current OptoStim system Competitor 1 (Wentz et al., 2011) Competitor 2 (Kim et al., 2013) Competitor 3 (Ameli et al., 2013)
Battery life 2 h (20 min rechargeable) None—RF Scavenging None—RF Scavenging None—Inductive power
Headstage size 14 × 17 × 5 mm <1 cm3 ~1 cm3 (est.) 15 × 25 × 17 mm
Headstage weight 2.9 g (including battery) 3 g ~2 g 7.4 g
LED size 240 × 320 × 140 μm 1 × 1 mm 50 × 50 × ~6.45 μm Dimensions vary
LED wavelength Blue 465.5 nm Blue 470 nm Various (including blue ~450 nm) Various
Range 4 m <1 m Maximum unknown (tested 1–2 m) >2 m (<7 cm power transmission)
LED location Anywhere in the brain Outside the brain (only for superficial brain regions) Anywhere in the brain Outside the brain. Light passed into brain via optic fiber
Time required for fabrication of implant; difficulty <3 h; Easy Exact details unknown 1 day for implant ~11–14 days for fabrication; Difficult (requires specialized materials science laboratory) Exact details unknown 1 day for implant

The specifications of our system are compared with optogenetic stimulation systems reported in recent publications (Wentz et al., 2011; Ameli et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2013; McCall et al., 2013).