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Nervous System Stimulation Using Microwave. Class Project of ELCT 891B Course Instructor: Dr. Mohammod Ali Prepared By: Md. Anas Boksh Mazady mazady@engr.sc.edu Date: 04/07/2009. Outline. Overview of human nervous system How signal propagates in human nervous system
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Nervous System Stimulation Using Microwave Class Project of ELCT 891B Course Instructor: Dr. Mohammod Ali Prepared By: Md. AnasBokshMazady mazady@engr.sc.edu Date: 04/07/2009
Outline • Overview of human nervous system • How signal propagates in human nervous system • Review of 2 papers • Model of the stimulation of a nerve fibre • Design considerations of MC • Findings • Future scopes • Conclusion
Human Nervous System (Cont) [www.spineuniverse.com] • Central Nervous System i) Brain ii) Spinal Cord iii) Nerve roots • Peripheral Nervous System: 31 pairs of nerve roots branch off the spinal cord to enable the body to move and feel. Fig: Vertebrae i) Cervical – 8 pairs ii) Thoracic – 12 pairs iii) Lumbar – 5 pairs iv) Sacral – 5 pairs v) Coccyx – 1 pair • The spinal cord is nearly an inch in diameter at its widest point and 18 inches long.
Signal Propagation in Human Nervous System [Paul Davidovits, “Physics in biology and medicine,” pp. 180-197, 2007] • When a neuron receives an appropriate stimulus, it produces electrical pulses that are propagated along its cable like structure. • The pulses are constant in magnitude and duration. The strength of the stimulus is conveyed by the number of pulses produced. • Each neuron consists of a cell body to which are attached input ends called dendrites and a long tail called axon which propagates the signal away from the cell. • Some axons may be as long as 1 meter, such as the axons connecting the spine with the fingers and toes. Some of the axons are covered with a segmented sheath of fatty material called myelin.
Signal Propagation in Human Nervous System (cont) • The segments are about 2 mm long, separated by gaps called the Nodes of Ranvier. The largest axons in humans have a diameter of only about 20um. The myelin sheath increases the speed of pulse propagation along the axon. • The neurons can be divided into 3 classes: sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons. • A stimulus from a muscle produces nerve impulses that travel to the spine. Here the signal is transmitted to a motor neuron, which in turn sends impulses to control the muscle. This is an example of the simplest reflex action. • In the aqueous environment of the body, salts are dissociated into ions. As a result, body fluids are relatively good conductors, the resistivity is 100 million times greater than that of copper.
Signal Propagation in Human Nervous System (cont) • Fluids inside the axons are separated by a thin (50e-10 m to100e-10 m) axon membrane. This is a relatively good but not perfect electrical insulator. • The electrical resistivities of the internal and external fluids are about the same, but their chemical compositions are substantially different. The ionic solutes in the external fluids are mostly sodium and chloride ions. Whereas the internal fluids are mostly positive potassium ions and negatively charged large organic molecules. • In the resting condition, when the axon is not conducting an electrical pulse, the axon membrane is highly permeable to potassium and only slightly permeable to sodium, impermeable to the large organic ions. • As a result, a negative potential of 70 mV is produced inside the axon with respect to the outside.
Signal Propagation in Human Nervous System (cont) • Some sodium ions do in fact leak into the axon, but they are continuously removed by a metabolic mechanism called “sodium pump”. This mechanism brings in an equal number of potassium ions. • Physiologists have studied the properties of nerve impulses by inserting a probe into the axon and measuring the changes in the axon voltage with respect to the surrounding fluid. • A nerve impulse is produced only if the stimulus exceeds a certain threshold value, typically +15 mV higher than the resting value. When this value is exceeded, an impulse is generated at the point of stimulation and propagates down the axon. Such a propagating impulse is called an “action potential”
Signal Propagation in Human Nervous System (cont) • A sudden rise of potential is observed inside the axon for this impulse. -70 mV +30 mV -90 mV -70 mV • Fast-acting axons propagate the pulse at speeds up to 100 m/sec. • Impulses produced by a given neuron are always of the same size and propagate down the axon with very less attenuation as the axon is insulated. Nevertheless, to ensure that the signal does not fail, nodes of Ranvier help boost the signal. • Nerve impulses are produced at a rate proportional to the intensity of the stimulus. The upper limit of the frequency is limited by the propagation speed of the impulse.
Axon as an electric cable • The axon may be approximated as an insulated electric cable submerged in a conducting fluid. We’ll have to take into account the resistances of the fluids both inside and outside the axon, as the membrane is a lossy dielectric it is characterized by both capacitance and resistance.
Axon as an electric cable • However this model fails to explain some of the most striking characteristics of the axon. An electrical signal along such a circuit propagates at nearly speed of light (3e8 m/sec), whereas a pulse along an axon propagates at a speed of about 100 m/sec. • Furthermore, this circuit dissipates an electrical signal very quickly, yet we know that action potentials propagate along the axon without any attenuation.
Propagation of action potential • When the voltage across a portion of the membrane is reduced below a threshold, the permeability of the axon membrane to sodium ions increases rapidly. As a result, potential inside axon rises to +30 mV. This potential increases the permeability of the membrane to the Na immediately ahead of it, which in turn produces a spike in that region. In this way the pulse is propagated. • At the peak of the action potential, the membrane closes its gate to sodium and opens them wide to potassium ions. The potassium ions now rush out making the inside potential negative again. • We know, ΔQ = C ΔV ΔV = 70 mV - (-30) mV = 100 mV C = 3e-7 F/m, for nonmyelinated axon So, ΔV/q = 1.87e11, sodium ions enter per meter of axon length, which is much lower than the number of ions at rest (7e15)
Propagation of action potential (cont) • During the propagation of one pulse, the whole axon capacitance is successively discharged and then must be recharged again. The energy required to recharge 1 m length of nonmyelinated axon is, E = ½ (C ΔV)2 = ½ * 3e-7 * (0.1)2 = 1.5e-9 J/m • Since the duration of each pulse is 1/100 sec, so required power to recharge its capacitance is 1.5e-7 W/m. • At the far end, the axon branches into nerve endings which extend to the cells that are to be activated. The nerve endings are not in contact with the cells. This gap is called “synapse” and it is about 1 nm. • When the impulse reaches the synapse, a chemical substance is released at the nerve ending which quickly diffuses across the gap and stimulates the adjacent cells. The chemical is released in bundles of discrete size. • In the muscle fiber, the duration of action potential is usually longer, about 20 msec. In heart muscle it may last a quarter of second.
Bradley J. Roth, Peter J. Basser, “A model of the stimulation of a nerve fibre by electromagnetic induction,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 37, No. 6, June 1990. Analysis: Without stimulation • From Ohm’s Law: …………….(1) From KCL: Membrane current, ………………(2) Also, ……….(3) Combining equations (1), (2), and (3) ………(4) Where, Length Constant, and time constant,
Model of a Nerve Fiber (cont) • Axial component of electric field inside the fiber, • With electromagnetic induction by a time varying magnetic field induced electric field parallel to the fiber But the induced electric field equals the negative rate of change of the vector magnetic potential Now, So,
Model of a Nerve Fiber (cont) • The reason that the derivative of the electric field, not the electric field itself appears in the last equation is because the membrane current, not the axial current along the fiber, depolarizes the membrane. • The membrane current is a maximum where the spatial gradients of the axial currents and the induced electric field are the largest. • Interestingly, at the location along the fiber where the electric field is maximum the axial derivative of the electric field must necessarily zero. So, we expect only a little or no stimulation to occur where the electric field is the largest.
Hodgkin-Huxley Model • The three conductances represent the sodium, potassium, and leakage channels. • With this modifications the cable equation becomes
Hodgkin-Huxley Model (cont) • In these equations it has been assumed that the resting potential is -65 mV.
Hodgkin-Huxley Model (cont) • The induced electric field can be calculated from the coil current and its geometry by Where, coil current r position where the electric field is calculated position of the differential element of the coil
Electric field and its gradient • The coil is at a distance of 1 cm from the nerve • The coil is assumed to be 64-sided polygon • Coil radius rc = 2.5 cm • No. of turns, N = 30 • The nerve is parallel to x axis and is tangent to the coil at y = rc
Electric field and its gradient (cont) Electric field (dI/dt = 1 A/us) Electric field gradient • The maximum of the derivative is not below the center of the coil nor at its edge.
Electric field and its gradient (cont) • This is the contour plot of the derivative of the axial component of electric field • The bold circle represents the position of the coil, with the arrow pointing to the direction of the rate of change of current. • The dotted line indicates the location of the nerve fiber. • The minus signs indicate the regions where we expect a nerve that is parallel to the x-axis to be maximally depolarized, i.e. the location of stimulation. • The plus signs indicate the regions of hyperpolarization.
The current in the coil • The current pulse is generated when a capacitor C, initially charged to a voltage V0, is discharged through a coil whose inductance is L and resistance is R • The inductance L of a circular coil of radius rc wound with N turns of wire having radius rw is A coil of radius 2.5 cm with 30 turns wound from 1.0 mm radius wire has an inductance of 0.165 mH.
The current in the coil • With R = 3 Ω, L=0.165 mH, C = 200 µF R2 / 4L2 – 1/LC = 5.2342e+007 >> 1 So, the coil current I(t) would have an overdamped response. Where, ω1 = R/2L = 9.07 ms-1 = 7.21 ms-1 V0 = 200 V • So the resulting I(t) would be
Findings • The nerve fiber is stimulated by the gradient of the component of the electric field that is parallel to the fiber. • This electric field component hyperpolarizes or depolarizes the membrane and may stimulate an action potential. • A non linear Hodgkin-Huxley cable model describes the response of the nerve fiber to induced electric field. • Maximum stimulus is neither below the center of the coil nor below it’s edges.
MC design considerations [Vernon Weh-Hau Lin, Ian N. Hsiao, and Vijay Dhaka, “Magnetic coil design considerations for functional magnetic stimulation,” IEEE Trans. on Biomed. Eng., Vol. 47, No. 5, May 2000]
Theoretical Computations • E generated by a MC can be calculated by • A typical current waveform through the discharging of a capacitor with a V0 to the coil (LRC circuit) Where, and
Theoretical Computations (cont) • By assuming a uniform current distribution along the coils becomes insignificant compared to the other factors. So,
Experimental E Measurement • Dimension of the plastic container = 30 * 30 * 25 cm3 • The plastic container was filled with a saline solution of conductivity 0.002 S/cm (0.8% NaCl). • The electrodes of the electric field probe were 0.2-0.5 cm apart. • Frequency = 20 Hz.
Experimental E Measurement : No of Slinky • The E field distribution for coils IA-IE at 3 mm above each coil is as below • The ratio Eprimary /Esecondary increases as no. of slinky increases. Because effective r increases, so Esecondary decreases.
Experimental E Measurement : Circular or Rectangular • Circular (IB )VS rectangular (IF) coil E profile is shown below for same R. • The circular coil has higher primary E field but less focalization as compared to the rectangular coil (2.6 vs 2.2).
Experimental E Measurement : Coil Diameter • Coils IIB, IB, and IID with diameters of 11.5, 7.62, and 5.08 cm. • The ratio Eprimary /Esecondary decreases as the coil diameter increases. Eprimary decreases because L ∞ D and E ∞ 1/L. Esecondary is higher for large dia because of less interference from the side limb of the other coil.
Field penetration by coils of different diameters • Coils IB (7.62 cm), IIB (11.5 cm), and IID (5.08 cm) were investigated. • Lower diameter coil has higher initial field strength, but higher diameter coil penetrates deeper.
Analytic computation • A computer program, FARADAY, was used to simulate the electric field. This software uses boundary integral equation to solve for the fields. = 30,000 A at 4 KHz was used.
Analytic Computations : no. of slinky • The E field distribution for coils IA-IE is as below • The ratio Eprimary /Esecondary increases as no. of slinky increases. Because effective r increases, so Esecondary decreases.
Analytic Computation : Coil Diameter Varying Coil Diameter: • Coils IIB, IB, and IID with diameters of 11.5, 7.62, and 5.08 cm were studied. • The initial field strengths are 454, 517, and 789 V/m respectively. So the smallest coil has the largest initial field strength. Eprimary increases because L ∞ D and E ∞ 1/L. Esecondary is higher for large dia because of less interference from the side limb of the other coil. • The ratio Eprimary /Esecondary was found to be 1.5, 2.0, and 2.3 respectively. So the ratio decreases as the coil diameter increases agreeing to the experimental results. • But the larger coils maintain a higher field strength after 30 mm distance.
MC design considerations (cont) Findings • Slinky coil design produces more focalized stimulation when compared to the planar round coils. The primary to secondary peak ratios of induced E from slinky 1 to 5 are 1, 2.2, 2.85, 2.62, and 3.54. • Coils with larger diameters have better penetration than those with smaller diameters. • Coils with less number of turns have higher initial field strengths.
Simulations Phantom • Homogeneous rectangular phantom • Size: 225 mm * 150 mm * 150 mm • Shell of 2 mm at the interface • Tissue property: • Conductivity = 0.97 (S/m) • Relative permittivity = 41.5 • Density = 1000 Kg/m3 • Shell property • Conductivity = 0 (S/m) • Relative permittivity = 3.7 • Density = 0 Kg/m3 Coil • Each coil had 4 turns, • Wire length was 80 mm, • Coil radius was 38.1 mm, • Wire radius was 0.25 mm. • PEC was used for both coil and wire.
Simulations (cont) Run parameters • The nearest coil element was 3 mm apart from the tissue. • Base cell size was 1 mm in all directions. • Sinusoidal current excitation of 30 kA at 915 MHz was used. • Liao absorbing boundary was used.
Simulations (cont) Results • Eprimary= 2.2e5 V/m, Esecondary = 1.1e5 V/m, ratio = 2