Extracellular stimulation of nerve cells with electric current spikes induced by voltage steps

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel extracellular nerve cell stimulation method using voltage step-induced current spikes, demonstrating effective nerve activation with minimal charge transfer and rapid activation times.

Contribution

It presents a new stimulation paradigm based on current spikes from voltage steps, supported by experimental and theoretical evidence, including proof of principle on the human tongue.

Findings

Current spike duration ~1 microsecond

Activation time as short as 3 microseconds

Charge transfer is minimal due to short spike duration

Abstract

A new stimulation paradigm is presented for the stimulation of nerve cells by extracellular electric currents. In the new paradigm stimulation is achieved with the current spike induced by a voltage step whenever the voltage step is applied to a live biological tissue. By experimental evidence and theoretical arguments, it is shown that this spike is well suited for the stimulation of nerve cells. Stimulation of the human tongue is used for proof of principle. Charge injection thresholds are measured for various voltages. The time-profile of the current spike used in the experiment has a half-width of about 1 microsecond. The decay of the spike is non-exponential. The spike has at least three distinctly different phases. A Maxwell phase is followed by a charge-rearrangement phase. Charging of cell membranes is completed in a third phase. All three phases contribute to depolarization or hyperpolarization of cell membranes. Due to the short duration of the spike the charge transfer is very small. The activation time (time of no return) of nerve cell membranes leading to an action potential is measured and found to be unexpectedly short. It can become as short as 3 microseconds for a voltage step of 10 V or higher.