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一种用于自由活动动物的微型多模式遥控刺激器

宋卫国¹, 柴洁², 韩太真², 原魁^1,*

¹中国科学院自动化研究所高技术创新中心，北京 100080；²西安交通大学医学院生理教研室，西安 710061

摘要

本文采用集成有射频功能的片上系统(nRF24E1)，研制了一种用于自由活动小动物的微型多模式遥控刺激器。刺激 参数的设置及结果分析均由 10 m 外的个人计算机进行。通过离体实验，即刺激蛙坐骨神经干时产生动作电位并可观察到伪 迹；及在体大鼠的训练操作性条件反射的行为学实验，即在 Y 臂迷宫中训练大鼠听到不同声音完成左右运动，如果完成正确 给予前脑内侧束以电刺激，我们观察到 5 d 内大鼠的正确率增加 3 倍，达到 93.5%。上述实验都验证了该刺激器的有效性与 稳定性。本系统具有体积小(18 mm×28 mm 双层线路板)、重量轻(不含电池 5 g)、简单、实用、可靠等特点，能有效地用 于自由活动小动物的实验研究。为基于电刺激的小动物行为训练(动物机器人)及相关神经生理学实验研究，提供了新的实验 条件和实验手段。

关键词： 电刺激; 电生理; nRF24E1; 动物机器人; 多模式微型刺激器

A remote controlled multimode micro-stimulator for freely moving animals

SONG Wei-Guo¹, CHAI Jie², HAN Tai-Zhen², YUAN Kui^1,*

¹Hi-Tech Innovation Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China；²Department of Physiology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, China

Abstract

This paper presents a remote controlled multimode micro-stimulator based on the chip nRF24E1, which consists mainly of a micro-control unit (MCU) and a radio frequency (RF) transceiver. This micro-stimulator is very compact (18 mm×28 mm two layer printed circuit board) and light (5 g without battery), and can be carried on the back of a small animal to generate electrical stimuli according to the commands sent from a PC 10 meters away. The performance and effectiveness of the micro-stimulator were validated by in vitro experiments on the sciatic nerve (SN) of the frog, where action potentials (APs) as well as artifacts were observed when the SN was stimulated by the micro-stimulator. It was also shown by in vivo behavioral experiments on operant conditioned reflexes in rats which can be trained to obey auditory instruction cues by turning right or left to receive electrical stimulation (‘virtual’ reward) of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) in a maze. The correct response for the rats to obey the instructions increased by three times and reached 93.5% in an average of 5 d. This micro-stimulator can not only be used for training small animals to become an ‘animal robots’, but also provide a new platform for behavioral and neurophysiological experiments.

Key words: Electrical stimulation; electrophysiology; nRF24E1; bio-robotic; multimode micro-stimulator

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通讯作者：原魁　　E-mail: kui.yuan@mail.ia.ac.cn

引用本文：

宋卫国, 柴洁, 韩太真, 原魁. 一种用于自由活动动物的微型多模式遥控刺激器[J]. 生理学报 2006; 58 (2): 183-188.

SONG Wei-Guo, CHAI Jie, HAN Tai-Zhen, YUAN Kui. A remote controlled multimode micro-stimulator for freely moving animals. Acta Physiol Sin 2006; 58 (2): 183-188