Brain Function: Novel Technologies Driving Novel Understanding - Bioinspired Approaches for Human-Centric Technologies - page 316

Fig. 10.10 Spatiotemporal analysis of high-resolution electrophysiological signals acquired from
(a) cultured network (adapted from Garofalo et al. 2009 ) and (b) cortico-hippocampal brain slices
(adapted from Ferrea et al. 2012 ). In (a) the trajectory ( last inset on the right ) was calculated with
the “center of activity trajectory” analysis of a burst event. In (b) the position of a cortico-
hippocampal slice on the electrode array is shown in correspondence with false color maps of
the activity recorded during two interictal propagating patterns. (c) Identification of the effects of
THIP on interictal event amplitudes with respect to specific brain regions (dentate gyrus, CA3, and
CA1) and by distinguishing the two main propagating classes of events. This methodology could
be applied for neuropharmacological and neurotoxicological screenings

approaches include chemical vapor deposition, with variants of electron beam-
induced and/or ion beam-induced deposition. IIT scientists are employing both
general approaches in developing innovative biosensors. Several examples are
presented below to provide a sense of the depth and versatility of nanofabrication
innovation at IIT.

10.13 Innovative Electrophysiological Approaches

Through Nanostructuring

One area of application for nanotechnology is in devising novel methods for
monitoring electrical activity in neurons. Extracellular electrodes capacitively
transduce the voltage drop caused by ionic transmembrane currents in the surround-
ing extracellular medium. However, the reduced invasiveness of extracellular
recordings comes at the price of a reduced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which is