The advent of high-yield electrophysiology using Neuropixels probes is now enabling researchers to simultaneously record hundreds of neurons with remarkably high signal to noise. However, these probes have not been well-suited to use in freely moving mice. It is critical to study neural activity in unrestricted animals for many reasons, such as leveraging ethological approaches to study neural circuits. We designed and implemented a novel device that allows Neuropixels probes to be customized for chronically implanted experiments in freely moving mice. We demonstrate the ease and utility of this approach in recording hundreds of neurons during an ethological behavior across weeks of experiments. We provide the technical drawings and procedures for other researchers to do the same. Importantly, our approach enables researchers to explant and reuse these valuable probes, a transformative step which has not been established for recordings with any type of chronically-implanted probe.
The advent of high-yield electrophysiology using Neuropixels probes is now enabling researchers to simultaneously record hundreds of neurons with remarkably high signal to noise. However, these probes have not been well-suited to use in freely moving mice. It is critical to study neural activity in unrestricted animals for many reasons, such as leveraging ethological approaches to study neural circuits. We designed and implemented a novel device that allows Neuropixels probes to be customized for chronically implanted experiments in freely moving mice. We demonstrate the ease and utility of this approach in recording hundreds of neurons during an ethological behavior across weeks of experiments. We provide the technical drawings and procedures for other researchers to do the same. Importantly, our approach enables researchers to explant and reuse these valuable probes, a transformative step which has not been established for recordings with any type of chronically-implanted probe.
The advent of high-yield electrophysiology using Neuropixels probes is now enabling researchers to simultaneously record hundreds of neurons with remarkably high signal to noise. However, these probes have not been comprehensively tested in freely moving mice. It is critical to study neural activity in unrestricted animals, and the field would benefit from the inclusion of ethological approaches to studying the neural circuitry of behavior. We therefore adapted Neuropixels probes for chronically-implanted experiments in freely moving mice. We demonstrate the ease and utility of this approach in recording hundreds of neurons across weeks, and provide the methodological details for other researchers to do the same. Importantly, our approach enables researchers to explant and reuse these valuable probes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.