Wireless Brain Implant for Dopamine Monitoring

Motoric symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients are caused by low level of dopamine (DA) concentration in the brain. Facilitating daily real-time and portable DA monitoring can improve the life quality of the patients. Miniaturized wireless brain implant can accommodate this purpose. The realization of this device requires compatible design on DA sensor, signal processing, and the wireless technology. For the sensor, the electrochemical method, Fast Scan Cyclic Voltammetry (FSCV), enables the sub-millisecond DA concentration measurement. Coupling this sensing method with RF technology and wireless power transfer can increase the device miniaturization and implantability. From our numerical analysis, the FSCV electrode with planar area approximately one square centimeter can accommodate the low-level DA concentration detection.