A Bluetooth Device for Wireless Communication of in vivo Data from Freely Moving Research Animals

Abstract

Collecting neurophysiological data through electrodes can impact behavior when the animal is connected to wires and less able to move. In Parkinson's disease there is a clear link between reduction in dopamine availability and Parkinson's symptoms, which include tremor, slowness of movement and postural alterations. To better study the link between dopamine release in the basal ganglia and motor behavior, we are developing the implementation of a Bluetooth wireless technology for the measurement of neurotransmitter release. Data of dopamine release can be collected by means of fast scan cyclic voltammetry in which voltage ramps between −450 mV and +1000 mV are applied at a rate of ∼300 V/s to a carbon fiber electrode (CFE) implanted in the striatum. The oxidation and reduction currents can be converted to cyclic voltammograms to identify the dopamine signal. The voltage ramp signals are wirelessly delivered to a remote unit connected to the implanted CFE and the resulting currents are amplified and sampled at 44.1 kHz at the remote unit. Using stereo headset protocol to transmit the data back to the computer, a recording bandwidth of ∼1.3 kHz has been achieved. As usual, the voltammetric current collected before dopamine release is subtracted from the voltammetric signal collected after dopamine release within the computer to extract the net oxidation and reduction currents due to dopamine release alone and to generate the cyclic voltammogram. We anticipate that this technology will be useful for the study of the mechanisms of Parkinson's disease and possibly other electrophysiological recordings from freely moving research animals.