Neuroprostheses are neuroengineering devices that have an interface with the nervous system and supplement or substitute functionality in people with disabilities. In the collective imagination, neuroprostheses are mostly used to restore sensory or motor capabilities, but in recent years, new devices directly acting at the brain level have been proposed. In order to design the next-generation of neuroprosthetic devices for brain repair, we foresee the increasing exploitation of closed-loop systems enabled with neuromorphic elements due to their intrinsic energy efficiency, their capability to perform real-time data processing, and of mimicking neurobiological computation for an improved synergy between the technological and biological counterparts. In this manuscript, after providing definitions of key concepts, we reviewed the first exploitation of a real-time hardware neuromorphic prosthesis to restore the bidirectional communication between two neuronal populations in vitro. Starting from that ‘case-study’, we provide perspectives on the technological improvements for real-time interfacing and processing of neural signals and their potential usage for novel in vitro and in vivo experimental designs. The development of innovative neuroprosthetics for translational purposes is also presented and discussed. In our understanding, the pursuit of neuromorphic-based closed-loop neuroprostheses may spur the development of novel powerful technologies, such as ‘brain-prostheses’, capable of rewiring and/or substituting the injured nervous system.

Goal: This study addresses the inherent difficulties in the creation of neuroengineering devices for real-time neural signal processing, a task typically characterized by intricate and technically demanding processes. Beneath the substantial hardware advancements in neurotechnology, there is often rather complex low-level code that poses challenges in terms of development, documentation, and long-term maintenance. Methods: We adopted an alternative strategy centered on Model-Based Design (MBD) to simplify the creation of neuroengineering systems and reduce the entry barriers. MBD offers distinct advantages by streamlining the design workflow, from modelling to implementation, thus facilitating the development of intricate systems. A spike detection algorithm has been implemented on a commercially available system based on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) that combines neural probe electronics with configurable integrated circuit. The entire process of data handling and data processing was performed within the Simulink environment, with subsequent generation of hardware description language (HDL) code tailored to the FPGA hardware. Results: The validation was conducted through in vivo experiments involving six animals and demonstrated the capability of our MBD-based real time processing (latency <= 100.37 µs) to achieve the same performances of offline spike detection. Conclusions: This methodology can have a significant impact in the development of neuroengineering systems by speeding up the prototyping of various system architectures. We have made all project code files open source, thereby providing free access to fellow scientists interested in the development of neuroengineering systems.

This study addresses the inherent difficulties in the creation of neuroengineering devices for closed-loop stimulation, a task typically characterized by intricate and technically demanding processes. Beneath the substantial hardware advancements in neurotechnology, there is often rather complex low-level code that poses challenges in terms of development, documentation, and long-term maintenance. To overcome these obstacles, we adopted an alternative strategy centered on Model-based Design (MBD) as a means to simplify the creation of closed-loop systems and reduce the entry barriers. MBD offers distinct advantages by streamlining the development workflow and facilitating the implementation of intricate systems. In this study, we applied MBD techniques to implement a spike detection algorithm on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using commercially available hardware that combines neural probe electronics with programmable FPGA-based hardware. The entire process of data handling and data processing was designed within the Simulink® environment, with subsequent generation of HDL code tailored to the FPGA hardware. The validation of our approach was conducted through in vivo experiments involving six animals. We have made all project code files open-source, thereby providing free access to fellow scientists interested in the development of closed-loop systems.