Combination of optogenetics and pharmacology represents a unique approach to dissect neural circuitry with high specificity and versatility. However, conventional tools available to perform these experiments, such as optical fibers and metal cannula, are limited due to their tethered operation and lack of biomechanical compatibility. To address these issues, a miniaturized, battery‐free, soft optofluidic system that can provide wireless drug delivery and optical stimulation for spatiotemporal control of the targeted neural circuit in freely behaving animals is reported. The device integrates microscale inorganic light‐emitting diodes and microfluidic drug delivery systems with a tiny stretchable multichannel radiofrequency antenna, which not only eliminates the need for bulky batteries but also offers fully wireless, independent control of light and fluid delivery. This design enables a miniature (125 mm3), lightweight (220 mg), soft, and flexible platform, thus facilitating seamless implantation and operation in the body without causing disturbance of naturalistic behavior. The proof‐of‐principle experiments and analytical studies validate the feasibility and reliability of the fully implantable optofluidic systems for use in freely moving animals, demonstrating its potential for wireless in vivo pharmacology and optogenetics.
Drug delivery systems featuring electrochemical actuation represent an emerging class of biomedical technology with programmable volume/flowrate capabilities for localized delivery. Recent work establishes applications in neuroscience experiments involving small animals in the context of pharmacological response. However, for programmable delivery, the available flowrate control and delivery time models fail to consider key variables of the drug delivery system––microfluidic resistance and membrane stiffness. Here we establish an analytical model that accounts for the missing variables and provides a scalable understanding of each variable influence in the physics of delivery process (i.e., maximum flowrate, delivery time). This analytical model accounts for the key parameters––initial environmental pressure, initial volume, microfluidic resistance, flexible membrane, current, and temperature––to control the delivery and bypasses numerical simulations allowing faster system optimization for different in vivo experiments. We show that the delivery process is controlled by three nondimensional parameters, and the volume/flowrate results from the proposed analytical model agree with the numerical results and experiments. These results have relevance to the many emerging applications of programmable delivery in clinical studies within the neuroscience and broader biomedical communities.
more » « less- PAR ID:
- 10216675
- Publisher / Repository:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Volume:
- 118
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 0027-8424
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. e2026405118
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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