High-density microelectrode array recordings and real-time spike sorting for closed-loop experiments: an emerging technology to study neural plasticity
Abstract
Understanding plasticity of neural networks is a key to comprehending their development and function. A powerful technique to study neural plasticity includes recording and control of pre- and post-synaptic neural activity, e.g., by using simultaneous intracellular recording and stimulation of several neurons. Intracellular recording is, however, a demanding technique and has its limitations in that only a small number of neurons can be stimulated and recorded from at the same time. Extracellular techniques offer the possibility to simultaneously record from larger numbers of neurons with relative ease, at the expenses of increased efforts to sort out single neuronal activities from the recorded mixture, which is a time consuming and error prone step, referred to as spike sorting. In this mini-review, we describe recent technological developments in two separate fields, namely CMOS-based high-density microelectrode arrays, which also allow for extracellular stimulation of neurons, and real-time spike sorting. We argue that these techniques, when combined, will provide a powerful tool to study plasticity in neural networks consisting of several thousand neurons in vitro. Show more
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https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000062541Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Frontiers in Neural CircuitsVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Frontiers Research FoundationSubject
Closed-loop; Real-time; Spike sorting; Multielectrode arrays; Neural culturesOrganisational unit
03684 - Hierlemann, Andreas / Hierlemann, Andreas
Funding
132245 - Network dynamics underlying learning in embodied cortical brain cells grown over an 11,011-electrode CMOS circuit (SNF)
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