PtNRGrid human and rat cortical mapping, 2022

Tchoe and colleagues tested PtNRGrid surface arrays for high-resolution neurophysiological mapping. The study’s rat and human experiments served different questions.

Rat mapping

In anesthetized rats, dense surface recordings resolved submillimetre functional organization in barrel cortex and matched underlying tissue structure. The methods describe recordings from two rats. These experiments are not evidence of conscious assistive-device control.

Human intraoperative recordings

The methods say 20 human subjects were recruited under UC San Diego and Oregon Health & Science University IRB approvals. Surgery location, exposed area and clinical requirements determined the grid and task. That recruited total is not the sample size of every figure or paradigm.

The paper shows fine spatiotemporal cortical dynamics in an awake patient performing grasping tasks. It also maps the spread of epileptic discharges in a patient undergoing epilepsy surgery at 1 mm spatial resolution, including activity induced by direct electrical stimulation.

These are recordings during clinically indicated surgery. They do not establish long-term at-home use, restored movement, or seizure freedom caused by the grid. A mapping device’s ability to show activity is different from proof that its use improves surgical outcomes.

Limits

The human grids were selected for different surgical exposures and were not tested as a single uniform protocol in every recruited patient. The study does not supply chronic human survival data for a permanently implanted wireless system. The later device entry separates UCSD’s 2024 IDE announcement from the 2022 results.

No atlas link is added for a generic university affiliation without a matching lab brief. The primary paper lists UC San Diego, Oregon Health & Science University and Massachusetts General Hospital collaborators; it does not make every existing brief at those institutions the owner of this study.

Sources

• Tchoe Y, Bourhis AM, Cleary DR, et al. Primary full text and methods. Science Translational Medicine 14:eabj1441, 19 January 2022.
• Publisher abstract.