Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
d
n
4
t
3
n
g
|
7
n
3
.
Figure 3.19
Assembly of recording MEA chambers (A-D) and the automatic liquid
handling system (E).
71
(Reprinted by kind permission of Elsevier BV.)
stimulated using MEA generators, where the MEA electrodes as stimulating
electrodes. This allows the recording of evoked activity and makes possible the
study of synaptic plasticity. The mechanisms of synaptic plasticity such as long-
term potentiation and long-term depression have been well characterized in
slices; this is not yet the case with cultures of dissociated neurons.
The events recorded by MEAs are extracellular potentials, but additional
information can be extracted from the spatial and temporal aspects. The rate of
action potentials ('spikes') and groups of action potentials ('bursts') are
recorded on each electrode, as well as the overall network spike and burst rates.
From this, many other parameters of spiking and bursting may be analyzed
using custom written or commercially available software (e.g. Neuroexplorer
from Nex Technologies, Littleton, MA), including burst duration, the number
of spikes in a burst, the percentage of spikes in a burst, and the interspike and
interburst intervals. Because spatial and temporal aspects of networks of
neurons are examined, the analysis can also include more complex measures of
