High spatial resolution cellular monitoring technology systems and methods
AssigneeSan Diego State University (SDSU) Foundation
InventorHakan Toreyin
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Abstract
A system and method for detecting, amplifying, and sorting non-transitory signals stemming from cellular activity of tissue in an extracellular medium is presented herein. Weak signals are difficult to detect, especially when they originate far from the measuring electrode. The invention takes advantage of stochastic resonance, i.e. adding noise to signals to amplify them and make them more detectable, to improve signal detection from a single electrode.
Claims19
A method for monitoring cellular activity in a tissue, the method comprising:
- disposing the tissue within an extracellular medium;
- contacting the tissue and extracellular medium with an electrode configured to detect signals generated by cellular activity within the tissue over time, wherein the cellular activity is measurable greater than 140 microns away from the electrode when pre-emphasizing spikes within the detected signals;
- receiving the detected signals within a computer processor, wherein the detected signals have a first noise level, and wherein the processor is programmed to execute the processing steps of:
- pre-emphasizing spikes within the detected signals by:
- adding an additive noise to the detected signals;
- filtering the detected signals with additive noise according to varying intensity via an algorithm based on stochastic resonance wherein a signal-to-noise ratio of spikes within the detected signals is enhanced by non-linear threshold detection based on Brownian particle movement in a monostable potential well;
- generating an index array comprising indices of spikes within the detected signals having intensities exceeding one or more threshold;
- grouping successive indices into a single value group to create a time array of detected spikes associated with cellular activity within the tissue;
- and
- generating an output identifying the time array of detected spikes.
A method for monitoring cellular activity in a tissue, the method comprising:
- disposing the tissue within an extracellular medium;
- contacting the tissue and extracellular medium with an electrode configured to detect signals generated by cellular activity within the tissue over time, wherein the cellular activity is measurable greater than 140 microns away from the electrode when pre-emphasizing spikes within the detected signals;
- receiving the detected signals within a computer processor, wherein the detected signals have a first noise level;
- using the processor, enhancing the detectability of spikes corresponding to cellular activity by pre-emphasizing spikes within the detected signals by:
- adding an additive noise to the detected signals;
- filtering the detected signals with additive noise according to varying intensity using stochastic resonance wherein a signal-to-noise ratio of spikes within the detected signals is enhanced by non-linear threshold detection;
- generating an index array comprising indices of spikes within the detected signals having intensities exceeding one or more threshold;
- grouping successive indices into a single value group to create a time array of detected spikes associated with cellular activity within the tissue;
- and
- generating an output identifying the time array of detected spikes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.