Human intraoperative single-neuron recording with uFINE ultraflexible arrays, 2026
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Human intraoperative single-neuron recording with uFINE arrays, 2026
Acute recordings with the uFINE ultraflexible array family (the same family StairMed calls HNE) in awake neurosurgical patients. Authors are from the Institute of Neuroscience (CAS), Huashan Hospital (Fudan) and Xijing Hospital (Air Force Medical University); corresponding authors Lu Junfeng, Li Xia, Zhao Zhengtuo and Li Xue. Published 13 April 2026 in Nature Communications, DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-71443-7 (open access, PMC13249945). These are research recordings during surgery, not a chronic implant.
Participants and hardware
16 awake patients, having either deep brain stimulation electrode implantation or brain tumor resection; recordings gave usable signals in 11. The array used in intraoperative recording had 128 sites (50 um circles, 65 um spacing) on two shanks; one patient received an upgraded 256-channel array with 90 um spacing on four shanks. Shanks were 20 mm long (35 mm for the 256-channel array), 80 to 245 um wide and 2 um thick. Arrays were guided by 75 um tungsten shuttle needles to 5 to 6 mm depth, then the needles were removed. DBS cases used an adaptor on the Leksell stereotactic frame with commercial micromanipulators; tumor cases used a custom micromanipulator on an articulated arm. Device detail is on the StairMed WRS sheet; this paper’s arrays are the academic version.
Results as stated
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Patients with recordings | 11 of 16 |
| Single units isolated | 719 from 1302 valid channels (impedance under 4 MOhm) |
| Yield per channel | 0.55 +/- 0.31 single units |
| Simultaneous units | Up to 135, in the patient with the 256-channel array |
| Unit quality (median, interquartile range) | Amplitude 54.34 uV (46.10 to 66.00); SNR 3.66 (3.28 to 4.34); firing rate 2.27 Hz (0.94 to 5.14) |
| Task | Word repetition in some patients; dorsolateral prefrontal neurons modulated in stimulus and response periods, more suppressed than activated |
| Stability | Removing the tungsten needles gave tightly localized spike drift (median about 29 um, mostly under 200 um) |
Limits
Acute intraoperative sessions only; yield fell with patient age and varied widely between patients. The authors state that insertion efficiency and front-end amplifier size limit channel count, with 500 to 1000 channels expected from the platform later; that is their projection, not a result.
Primary sources
- Wu S et al., Large-scale single-neuron recording in the human cortex using an ultra-flexible electrode array, Nature Communications (2026), DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-71443-7; full text PMC13249945.
- Chinese summary, 神外前沿 via Sohu, 15 April 2026.