High-Definition Deep Brain Stimulation (HD-DBS) with rDBSA

The rDBSA ↗ (research Deep Brain Stimulation Array) brings clinical DBS electrode geometry into research use. It combines microstimulation and recording on one array, acute or chronic, and reaches targets a standard laminar probe cannot.

Research use only. NeuroNexus products and the procedures described here are for non-clinical research use, and must not be used in human or veterinary medical procedures.

What the rDBSA is#

Clinical DBS leads are built for therapy, so their contacts are large and few. A research array asks a different question: where, exactly, does the effect come from. The rDBSA answers it by placing more and smaller contacts along the same trajectory a clinical lead would take.

The result is a linear contact array on a long, slim shank, addressable channel by channel. Contacts can stimulate, record, or do both within one session.

Recording and stimulation on one array#

Separating the stimulating contact from the recording contact by a known distance is the experimental point. It lets you ask what the tissue did, at a measured offset from where the current went in.

Two consequences follow for experimental design:

• Stimulation artifact sets your usable window. Plan the recovery interval before the protocol, not after the first session.
• Contact selection is a variable, not a setting. Record the exact contacts used in every trial; the spatial claim depends on it.

Closed-loop protocols use the same property. Recording contacts supply the trigger, stimulating contacts deliver the response, and both live on one implanted array.

Deep targets and long trajectories#

Subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus work in large-brain models needs shank lengths a cortical probe does not provide. rDBSA designs run to tens of millimeters of penetration depth, on a lead diameter chosen to keep the insertion tract narrow.

Two things follow from the length:

• Trajectory error accumulates with depth. A one-degree angular error is small at 5 mm and material at 45 mm. Plan the approach with imaging, and verify the track histologically.
• Insertion speed matters more, not less. A long shank displaces tissue along its whole path.

Small-animal configurations#

A rat-sized rDBSA exists for rodent DBS models, developed with a collaborating rodent DBS laboratory. It keeps the contact arrangement and scales the geometry to rat anatomy. A protocol developed in rodents then transfers to a larger model without changing the recording approach.

Research applications#

• Movement disorder models — stimulation of STN and GP, with simultaneous recording of the stimulated and downstream structures.
• Psychiatric and pain models — targeted stimulation where the mechanism, not the therapy, is the object of study.
• Epilepsy models — responsive stimulation triggered from recorded activity.
• Mechanism studies — separating direct activation from network-level effect by recording at a known distance from the stimulating contact.

Experimental considerations#

Configurations and ordering#

rDBSA is configured to the target. Eighteen package configurations are currently orderable: the 32-contact lead on an Omnetics 32-pin connector and the 40-contact lead on an MRI Omnetics 42-pin connector, each in three housings and three cannula lengths:

The 35-60 mm span is what "tens of millimeters" means in practice, and it is set by the target: STN and GP in a large-brain model sit at different depths from the same entry. The lead designs themselves — including the rat-scale variants — are built to order rather than stocked, so the configuration you can have is a conversation with an application scientist, not a catalog lookup. Materials and contact geometry change with the release. Do not rely on a figure quoted in a document.

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Related documentation#

• Deep Brain Targets with Vector Arrays
• NeuroNexus Silicon Probes: Overview
• Surgical Guide: Silicon Probes - Chronic Implantation
• Z-Coat: Optimized Site Coating for Stimulation and Noise Reduction