Brain Products Press Release
October 2013, Volume 48
EASYCAP
Minimizing impedances and using the right electrolyte gel saves time and makes research more effective
A guidance from Falk Minow, General Manager EASYCAP GmbH, for EASYCAP electrode caps.
Despite recent improvements in EEG and electrode technology,
most research applications still require low skin impedance
levels: optimum signal quality makes artifact detection easier,
data reliability increases, and groups can be kept smaller
to get significant differences. In EEG combined with other
technologies, such as EEG and fMRI, EEG and TMS, EEG in MEG,
impedance level multiplies with artifact amplitude, quickly
obscuring any EEG signal, so here too impedances should be
kept as low as possible.
The only effective method to achieve low impedances is still to
abrade the area of skin underneath each electrode, and then
to apply an electrolytic gel or paste. This is very timeconsuming, and any contribution to save even the tiniest
amount of time should be exploited. Some general measures
are listed and then the pros and cons of the different features
of electrolyte gels are discussed.
Why degreasing?
Normally, skin which is exposed to light, wind, and weather,
e.g. the face, arms, or a bald head, has an impedance of around
200 kOhm, compared with around 120 kOhm for protected
skin, e.g. covered by hair. The higher level is partly due to the
corneation of the outer skin layers, but even more so to the
natural skin grease. By removing the grease, impedances are
reduced by two thirds. For still lower impedances, the corneated
skin needs to be removed by abrasion. Therefore, degreasing
should always be the first step, either by hair-washing (and
-drying) just before electrode mounting, or by applying alcohol
directly under the electrode site.
How to abrade?
Corneated skin can be abraded through the opening of the
mounted electrode either with a blunted needle, or with abrasive
gel. Using the blunted needle is rather imprecise, it can hurt,
but it yields low impedances quickly in most cases. In contrast,
twirling abrasive gel with a cotton swab takes longer, but allows
you to be very gentle and to control precisely the intended
impedance level.
Properties of electrolyte gels
Technically, any conductive gel could be used to bridge the gap
between skin and electrode sensor. In practice, different gels are
more or less suited for certain EEG applications.
The gels may be
clear (only conductive) vs. abrasive (conductive AND abrasive)
liquid vs. viscous
salty vs. free-of-salt
and have different types of packaging.
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Clear vs. Abrasive
For most cases a rule of thumb is:
When using active electrodes, a clear gel applied with blunted
needle will yield good signal quality.
When using passive electrodes, the skin underneath the
electrode should be abraded additionally with an abrasive gel.
If an abrasive electrolyte gel is used, the same gel can be
used to fill the electrode after abrasion. Abrading with blunted
needle yields impedances below 20 kOhm. Abrading with
abrasive gel yields impedances well below 10 kOhm.
For very small effects like mismatch negativity or laterality
differences, results are better if all electrodes have equal
impedances. This is easier to achieve with abrasive gel and
cotton swab than with a blunted needle. In this case abrasive
gel instead of clear gel should be considered even when using
active electrodes.
The corneation of the skin increases with age. For babies and
infants no abrading is necessary and therefore clear gel can be
used.
liquid vs. Viscous
Although a liquid gel will easily drip between the hairs it will also
trickle away from the electrode over time. Therefore only gels of
at least medium viscosity can be used in EEG recording caps.
The ample application of gel can cause gel bridges between
adjacent electrodes. Thus at least from 64 channels onwards a
high-viscosity gel is recommended.
Salty vs. Free-of-Salt
In the human body the salt content is 0.9%. Salty electrolyte
gels have 3% to 10% salt concentration. After abrading, the
electrolyte comes in contact with body liquids such as sera,
and the difference in salt concentration leads to a gradual
improvement in skin-to-electrolyte contact. This effect can
be seen during the impedance check: after some minutes
impedances decline all by themselves.
Therefore we would normally prefer to use salty electrolytes.
However, when the salty electrolyte comes into contact with the
abraded skin this can be experienced as unpleasant itching.
In terms of conductivity there is no difference between salty
and free-of-salt electrolytes, but the latter lack the selfimproving effect, and free-of-salt electrolytes cannot be used
for DC-recordings and very slow potentials (because the same
ion must be present in electrolyte and electrode, e.g. chlorine
ions in the case of Ag/AgCl-electrodes).
If there may be a need for free-of-salt electrolyte, we recommend
starting with these, because you can always switch to salty
gels later.
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Type of packaging
Electrolyte gels are typically applied onto the skin and into the
caps electrodes by a syringe with or without blunted needle.
Electrolyte gels either come in large-volume jugs, in cartouches
or tubes, or in pre-filled syringes. The decision between these
types of packaging is purely financial.
In relation to volume, the large jugs are the cheapest solution,
but the gel needs to be drawn up into the syringes. Afterwards,
excess gel will have to be wiped off the syringes.
From tubes, gel can be filled into the syringes after removing the
piston. Cartouches even come with a special adaptor to squeeze
the gel bubble-free into the syringe with the help of a skeleton
gun.
Both jugs and cartouches/tubes require advance preparation
and cleaning afterwards. The most convenient method therefore
is with pre-filled syringes which are disposed of when empty.
But this is the most expensive method.
So in the end it comes down to what is cheaper, working time or
pre-filled syringes.
Conclusion / Decision Tree
Always degrease the skin by washing the hair directly before
cap mounting for normal requirements, and degrease with
alcohol for high requirements.
www.brainproducts.com
October 2013, Volume 48
Always abrade the skin with blunted needle for active
electrodes, or with abrasive gel for passive electrodes. The only
exception is for babies and infants.
Use clear gel when blunted needles are used or when no
abrading takes place, and use abrasive electrolyte gel when
abrading with a cotton swab.
Do not use liquid gels. Use medium-viscosity gels for 21
channels, and high-viscosity gels for 32 or more channels.
Use salty electrolytes unless you may have children or anxious
subjects.
Use only salty electrolytes if you are recording DC-EEG or
potentials slower than 3 Hz.
If you have more time than money buy gel in jugs. If you have
more money than time buy pre-filled syringes. As a compromise
buy cartouches / tubes.
Postscript
Electrolyte gels are the method of choice for EEG recordings
with caps for up to 4 hours. For long-term and sleeprecordings, gels are not suitable as they dry up after some
time. Here, electrolyte pastes will have to be considered
although they are both more difficult to apply and to remove
and clean off afterwards. The use of pastes is also
recommended for EEG during movements.
