# Multichannel, High-fidelity Carbon Fiber Electrodes to Enhance Composite Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interfaces

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $64,230

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Myoelectric interface prosthetic devices are often lauded as the next great innovation for those living with
amputations. These devices typically utilize efferent neuromuscular signals, but movements that occur are
often simple, disjointed, and require a separate, independent control signal for each motion. Modern
prosthetics also lack any appreciable afferent sensory input that would generate appropriate proprioception
and tactile feedback, thus forcing the user to visualize the device with each movement. As such, these devices
are often associated with significant mental fatigue and eventual abandonment up to 75% of the time, causing
significant disability. To prevent device rejection, development of an ideal prosthetic interface allowing for
motor control alongside sensory feedback is key. A variety of peripheral nerve interfaces have been
developed, but their success has been restricted by a critical lack of high-fidelity electrodes that would allow for
stable and effective integration of the interface with the prosthetic. A novel strategy to address this issue is
through the use of high-density multi-channel carbon fiber electrodes implanted into a composite regenerative
peripheral nerve interface (C-RPNI). The C-RPNI entails implanting a sensorimotor peripheral nerve into a
construct composed of a segment of free muscle graft sutured to dermal skin graft with reinnervation of
appropriate sensory and motor end organs. The C-RPNI thus serves as an amplification system for prosthetic
devices to detect simultaneous efferent motor signals and produce afferent sensory information. Fine-wire
electrodes are currently utilized to interface with these C-RPNIs, but they cause fibrotic reaction over time and
are limited by their inability to interact with single motor and sensory units. Carbon fiber electrodes have
previously demonstrated chronic use in brain tissue without evidence of fibrotic reaction while maintaining
single neural unit signaling capabilities, making them the ideal electrode material for this proposal. The overall
objective of this proposal is to facilitate a neural, closed-loop sensorimotor control system for prosthetic
function that mimics that of the absent limb. The central hypothesis is that these micro-scale, high-density
carbon fiber electrode arrays will allow for chronic recording of compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs)
from individual motor units alongside providing simultaneous electrical stimulation to produce afferent
compound sensory nerve action potentials (CSNAPs) from single sensory units. This central hypothesis will be
tested through the pursuit of two aims utilizing rats as the study group: (1) integrate a functional, high-density
carbon fiber electrode array in C-RPNIs; and (2) use an integrated carbon fiber electrode array to chronically
record and stimulate electrophysiological signaling from the C-RPNI. Developing and achieving both of these
aims would encourage further progress towards t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10023163
- **Project number:** 5F32HD100286-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Shelby Rae Svientek
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $64,230
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10023163

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10023163, Multichannel, High-fidelity Carbon Fiber Electrodes to Enhance Composite Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interfaces (5F32HD100286-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-02 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10023163. Licensed CC0.

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