Conductivity-Engineered Silk Hydrogel-Enabled Adaptive Flexible Neural Microprobe Array

In this article, we present an adaptive flexible neural microprobe array based on engineered silk fibroin hydrogel, fundamentally resolving the intrinsic incompatibility between implantation stiffness and postoperative tissue compliance. The entire flexible probe array leverages the high modulus of dehydrated silk fibroin hydrogel to facilitate electrode implantation without requiring additional auxiliary tools or materials. Postimplantation, the hydrogel absorbs cerebrospinal fluid and recovers its soft mechanical properties, thereby significantly mitigating chronic inflammation and glial scarring caused by mechanical mismatch. Our innovation introduces a novel neural probe array capable of capturing high-fidelity signals over extended periods while reducing chronic immune responses.