High-density electrode array for imaging in vitro electrophysiological activity

Abstract

The development of a high-density active microelectrode array for in vitro electrophysiology is reported. Based on the Active Pixel Sensor (APS) concept, the array integrates 4096 gold microelectrodes (electrode separation 20 m) on a surface of 2.5 mm × 2.5 mm as well as a high-speed random addressing logic allowing the sequential selection of the measuring pixels. Following the electrical characterization in a phosphate solution, the functional evaluation has been carried out by recording the spontaneous electrical activity of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Signals with amplitudes from 130 V p-p to 300 V p-p could be recorded from different pixels. The results demonstrate the suitability of the APS concept for developing a new generation of high-resolution extracellular recording devices for in vitro electrophysiology.

Single-chip microelectronic system to interface with living cells

“…For both transducers, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-based approaches to in vitro measurements featuring multi-addressing schemes and some basic signal treatment have recently emerged (Berdondini et al, 2005;DeBusschere and Kovacs, 2001;Eversmann et al, 2003;Heer et al, 2004;Lambacher et al, 2004). However, a CMOS-based array of electrodes, each electrode of which can be used for stimulation and recording, has not been reported on yet.…”

Microelectronic system for high-resolution mapping of extracellular electric fields applied to brain slices

“…Commercially available planar microelectrode arrays (MEAs) for in vitro experiments usually comprise ∼60 electrodes, with diameters up to 30 m and feature up to 100 electrodes per mm 2 (Gross et al, 1995;Pine, 1980). Recently, high-density microelectrode arrays (HD-MEAs), realized in standard microelectronics or CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology have emerged (Berdondini et al, 2005;Eversmann et al, 2003), that bear the potential to perform recordings at single-cell resolution. This is mostly due to the possibility to place thousands of tightly-spaced electrodes and the respective addressing and read-out circuitry on a single chip.…”

A Multi-channel platform for recording and stimulation of large neuronal structures

“…Interfacing neurons through MEAs using discrete electronics rapidly limits the number of channels, creating the need for highly integrated electronics to achieve sufficient spatial resolution [14][15][16].…”