Wireless electromagnetic neural stimulation patch with anisotropic guidance

Abstract

The human body is limited in healing neurological damage caused by diseases or traumatic injuries. Bioelectricity is a quintessential characteristic of neural tissue and has a crucial role in physiological and neurological therapeutics development. Here, a wireless electromagnetic neural stimulation patch was created, combining stimulation through electromagnetic induction with physical guidance cues through structural anisotropy. The melt electrowritten biocompatible, bioresorbable polycaprolactone anisotropic structure with glancing angle deposition of 80 nm gold directly endowed incorporation of a wireless energy harvesting component in the patch, as an electromagnetic stimulation delivery system directly interfacing with neural cells. The biocompatibility and the capacity of the patch to deliver electromagnetic stimulation and promote neurite outgrowth was confirmed in vitro. Electromagnetically (60 mV, 40 kHz, 2 h/day, 5 days) stimulated PC12 cells showed 73.2% increased neurite outgrowth compared to PC12 cells grown without electromagnetic stimulation. The neural stimulation patch shows great potential for wireless electromagnetic stimulation for non-invasive neurological therapeutics advancement.