ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

BIO-POTENTIALS RESTING AND ACTION POTENTIALS

Resting Potential

• The membrane potential caused by different concentration of ions is called as Resting

potential. The cell in resting state is said to be polarized.

• The cell membrane is excited by the flow of ionic current (or) some form of externally
applied energy the membrane changes its characteristics and begins to follow some
sodium ions to enter.

• This movement of sodium ions constitutes an ionic current flow that further reduces
the barrier. The net result is an avalanche effect in which sodium ions literally rush
into the cell try to reach a balance outside.

Fig: Polarized cell with its resting potential

• At the same time potassium ions, were in higher concentration inside the cell during
the resting state, try to leave the cell, but unable to move as rapidly as sodium ions.

• As a result, the cell has a slightly positive potential on inside due to imbalance of
potassium ions. This potential is known as action potential and is approximately +20
mV.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Action Potential

Fig: Depolarized cell during an action potential

• The positive potential of the cell membrane during excitation is called as the action
potential.

• A cell that has been excited and that displayed on action potential difference is said
to be depolarize i.e the process of changing from resting state to the action potential
is called depolarization.

• When the passage of sodium ions is stopped, the cell membrane reversed back to the
original condition is called as repolarization.

Fig: waveform of the action potential, (Time scale varies with type of cell)

The net height of action potential as the difference between the potential of
depolarized membrane at the peak of action potential and resting potential. Following the
action potential, there is a brief period of time during which the cell cannot respond to any
new stimulus.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

BIO-POTENTIAL ELECTRODES

Electrodes are employed to pick up the electrical signals of the body. In presenting a
bioelectric event to the preamplifier of signal processing circuit, a pair of electrodes plays the
role of a transducer.

Limb Electrodes

Limb electrodes are made up of 4 leads placed on the extremities, i.e left and right wrist, left
and right ankle. The most common type of electrodes routinely used for recording ECG are
rectangular or circular surface electrodes.

The material used is German silver, nickel silver or nickel plate steel. They are applied to the
surface of the body with electrode jelly. The electrodes are held in position by elastic straps.
They are also called Limb electrodes. It is most suitable for application on the Four limbs of
the body. The size of the limb electrodes is usually 3x5 cm. It is made up of German silver,
an alloy of Zinc, copper and nickel.

Floating Electrodes

To overcome the problem, present in Limb electrodes, Floating electrodes were used. Limb
electrodes generally suffer from motion artefacts caused due to the relative motion at the
interface between the metal electrode and the adjacent layer of electrode jelly.

The interface can be stabilized by the use of floating electrodes in which the metal electrode
does not make direct contact with the skin.

Fig: Light weight floating electrode

The above electrode consists of a light weight metaled screen or plate held away from the
subject by a flat washer which is connected to the skin.

Micro Electrodes

Electrodes used to measure bioelectric potential near or within a single cell. In

microelectrodes, their tips are sufficiently small to penetrate a single cell in order to obtain
readings from within the cell. Microelectrodes are generally of two types:

• Metal electrodes

• Micropipet

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Metal Electrode:

Metal electrodes are formed by electrolytically etching the tip of a fine tungsten or stainless-
steel wire to the desired size. Then the wire is coated with an insulating material.

Fig: Metallic Electrode

Micropipet Electrode:

Fig: Non-Metallic electrode (Micropipet)

Micropipet electrode is a glass Micropipet with the tip drawn out to the desired size.
Micropipet is filled with an electrolyte compatible with the “Cellular Fluids”. This type of
microelectrode has a dual interface.

One interface consists of a metal wire in contact with the electrolyte solution inside the
Micropipet, while the other interface is in between the electrolyte inside the pipet and the
fluid inside or immediately outside the wall.

Needle Electrode

Needle electrodes are used to record the peripheral nerve action potential
(Electroneurography). Needle electrodes for EMG consist merely of fine insulated wires,

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

their tips are in contact with the nerve, muscle or other tissue from which the measurement is
made.

The remainder of the wire is converted with some form of insulation to prevent shorting.
There are two types of electrodes are available.

1. Unipolar needle electrode

2. Bipolar needle electrode

Unipolar Needle Electrode:

A single wire inside the needle serves as a unipolar electrode, which measures the potential
at the point of contact with respect to some indifferent reference.

Bipolar Needle Electrode:

If two wires are placed inside the needle, the measurement is called bipolar and it provides a
very localized measurement between two wire tips.

Surface Electrode

Electrodes used to obtain bio-electric potentials from the surface of the body are found in
many sizes and forms. The surface electrodes are used to sense ECG, EEG or EMG potentials.
Surface electrodes are classifieds into the following types based on the construction.

• Immersion electrodes: The earliest bioelectrical potential measurements used

immersion electrodes, which are simply buckets of saline solution into which the
subject placed his hands and feet, one bucket for each extremity.

• Plate electrodes: These electrodes were separated from the subject’s skin by cotton
or felt pads soaked in a strong saline solution. One of the difficulties, by using plate
electrodes is the possibility of electrode slippage or movement.

Fig: Metal plate electrode

Floating electrodes: Floating electrodes are new type of electrode. It is practically

eliminated movement artifact by avoiding any direct contact of the metal with the
skin. The only conductive path between metal and skin is the electrolyte paste or jelly,

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

which forms an electrolyte to bridge. Floating electrodes are also called as liquid
junction electrode.

Fig: Floating type skin surface electrode

• Spray-on-electrode: A spot of conductive adhesive is sprayed or painted over the

skin. It acts as an electrolyte coating.

• Skin surface electrode: Electrodes used to measure ECG, EEG and EMG potentials
from the surface of the skin.

BIOLOGICAL AMPLIFIERS

Amplifiers are used to increase or boost the strength of the signals. Because bio signals are
having low amplitude and low frequency. Amplifier is an electronic device that amplifies a
weak signal.

Output of this amplifiers is displayed as EEG or ECG waveform according to the bio signal
input, so it is called as Bio-Amplifiers.

Pre-Amplifiers:

Preamplifier is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further
amplification or processing. Preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the
effects of noise and interference. It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to
the main instrument without significantly degrading the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

The noise performance of a preamplifier is critical according to “Friis’s Formula”, when the
gain of the preamplifier is high, the SNR of the final signal is determined by the SNR of the
input signal and the noise figure of the preamplifier.

• ECG Amplifier: Amplifies with full 12 lead selection and patient isolation.

• A Transducer Amplifier: Amplifies suited for bridge measurements on strain gauges,

strain gauge-based blood pressure signals.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

• DC Amplifier: Used in conjunction with standard thermistar probes for the accurate
measurement of temperature within the range of medical applications.

Differential Amplifier

The potential difference between two electrodes on the patient could be measured with less
electrical interference that can be done with a grounded system.

Fig: Differential amplifier with separate input and common output

Fig: Amplification of bioelectric signals Working:

The bioelectric signals are applied between the inventing and non-inventing inputs to the
amplifier. Then the signal is amplified by the differential gain of the amplifier. When one of
the amplifier input is grounded and a voltage is applied only to other amplifier input, the input
voltage appears at the output amplified by the gain of the amplifier. This gain is called
differential amplifier.

If the two amplifier inputs are connected to the same input source, the resulting common-
mode gain should be zero, because the signal from the inverting and the noninverting
amplifiers cancel other at the common output. The ratio of the differential gain to the common
mode gain is called the Common-Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR).

The electrode impedances Re+ and Re- each from a voltage divider with the input impedances
of the differential amplifier. If the electrode impedance is not identical. The interference
signals at the inverting and non-inverting inputs of the differential amplifier may be different
and the desired degree of cancellation does not take place.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Chopper Amplifier

Chopper amplifier is an excellent device for signal of narrow bandwidth and reduces the drift
problem.

Principle:

Chopping device which converts a slowly varying direct current to an alternating form with
amplitude proportional to the input direct current and with phase dependent on the polarity
of the original signal. The alternating voltage is then amplified by a conventional ac amplifier
whose output is rectified back to get an amplified direct current.

Types of Chopper Amplifier:

• Mechanical Chopper Amplifier

• Non Mechanical Chopper Amplifier

Mechanical Chopper Amplifier:

Fig: Chopper amplifier using a mechanical switch

• The above figure is a mechanical chopper amplifier and it consist of Diode (D),
Amplifier (A) and relay or switch (S1). S1 is an electromagnetically operated switch
or relay.

• When chopper S1 is closed and the amplifier input term is connected with Q, it is short
circuited, and the input voltage is zero. When chopper S1 is open and the amplifier
receives an ac voltage varying from zero to the value of the input voltage.

• Therefore, a steady d.c or slowly varying signal is chopped into a train of the square
wave pulse having a frequency equal to the rate of the chopper.

• After amplification, the chopped signal is rectified with a diode D. Then the signal is
filtered and amplified. Therefore, a d.c or slowly varying signal is obtained at the
output terminal M and N.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Non Mechanical Chopper Amplifier:

Fig: Non mechanical photo conductive chopper amplifier

• When there is no photo conductor, the resistance is very high and there is no current
flow through it therefore it is in reverse bias. When there is incident light on photo
conductor the resistance is very low and the current can flow easily under forward
bias condition.

• Therefore, it acts as switch (on/off) by means of incident light. Neon bulb 1 consist
(PC1 and PC2) and neon bulb 2 consist (PC3 and PC4) are drive by an oscillator.

Isolation Amplifier:

Isolation amplifiers are commonly used for providing protection against leakage currents in
biomedical recorders such as ECG machine. There are three methods used for the design of
isolation amplifier they are

• Transformer isolation

• Optical isolation

• Capacitive isolation

Transformer isolation:

Transformer isolation uses either a frequency – modulated or a pulse width modulated carrier
signal with small signal bandwidth up to 30kHz.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Fig: Transformer type isolation amplifier

• Isolation is achieved by transformer, signals from different leads are given to the
patient signal amplifier. Output of lead section is given to primary of an isolated low
capacity power transformer it is connected with 20kHz oscillator.

• The secondary of transformer along with rectifier and filter used to obtain isolated
power supply.

• Filter circuit which is used to reduces the interference caused by electro surgery and
radio frequency emission.

Optical isolation:

Isolation could be achieved by optical means in which the patient is electrically connected
with near hospital line nor the ground line.

Fig: Optically isolated

• Power from battery supplies to the patient circuit and the signal of the interest is
converted into light by a light source LED.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

 ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

• This light falls on a phototransistor on the output side which converts light signal
again into an electrical signal with its original frequency, amplitude and linearity.

• To ensure patient safety, it should be electrically isolated from any electrical

connection to the power line or ground.

Capacitive Isolation:

The capacitive method uses digital encoding of the input voltage and frequency modulation
to send the signal acts across a differential capacitive barrier.

Fig: Capacitively coupled isolation amplifier

Signals with bandwidth upto 70 kHz can be conveniently handled in this arrangement.

OEC754 – MEDICAL ELECTRONICS