The in vitro experimental setup for unipolar (a) and bipolar (b)
stimulation. A DBS electrode (electrode A in (a) and (b), model DB-2201, Boston
Scientific Neuromodulation) was placed in a glass container filled with tyrode
solution at room temperature. The monophasic stimulation pulses (3 V
peak-to-peak amplitude, 140 Hz frequency and 100 μs
pulse width) were delivered by means of a commercial stimulator (Grass,
Astromed, Inc., USA) and the LFP signals (representing the LPF signals recorded
from the human neural tissue in a typical post-operative LFP recording session)
were injected to the solution by an Agilent 33220A waveform generator. The LFP
signals were injected to the solution as a differential signal through a second
electrode (electrode B in (a) and (b), model 401261, St. Jude Medical). One of
the four contacts of electrode B was connected to the ground of the recording
system. In both unipolar and bipolar settings the stimulation ground was
electrically isolated from the mains by using a commercial isolator (SIU5
stimulus isolation point, Grass, Astromed, Inc., USA). The LFP signals recorded
by the proposed AFE were digitized at a sampling frequency of 20 kSPS (samples
per second) and depicted on a computer by the Powerlab data acquisition system
(ADInstruments). (a) In the unipolar stimulation setting, we sense
differentially and symmetrically in space about the unipolar stimulation contact
1a of electrode A by sensing across the two nearest, equi-distant to contact 1a,
neighbour contacts (contacts 0 and 2a). However, since the surface areas of
contacts 0 and 2a differ, the sensing is not completely symmetrical and thus
some differential-mode interference from stimulation is expected to appear and
be suppressed by the analog notch filter of the proposed AFE. The anode (ground)
of the stimulator was connected to one of the contacts of a third electrode
(electrode C), which is the 8-contact Vercise DBS lead (Boston Scientific).
Electrode C was placed approximately 4 cm away from the stimulation site and
represents the case of the IPG, which acts as an anode in the unipolar
stimulation setting. (b) In the bipolar stimulation setting, two contacts of
electrode A (0 and 1a) were used for stimulation (anode and cathode of the
stimulator) and another two for recording (2a and 3).