Fabrication and testing of polyimide-based microelectrode arrays for cortical mapping of evoked potentials.

Modern microfabrication techniques make it possible to develop microelectrode arrays that may be utilized not only in neurophysiological research but also in the clinic, e.g. in neurosurgery and as elements of neural prostheses.

Development of flexible microelectrode arrays for recording cortical surface field potentials.

The fabrication, characterization and application of an 8-channel flexible microelectrode array for recording cortical surface field potentials is described. Polyimide-based microelectrode arrays were fabricated by using photolithography and physical vapour deposition (PVD) methods. Polyimide was chosen as the substrate and insulation material due to its suitable mechanical properties and biocompatibility.

Flexible polyimide microelectrode array for in vivo recordings and current source density analysis.

This work presents implantable, flexible polymer-based probes with embedded microelectrodes for acute and chronic neural recordings in vivo, as tested on rodents. Acute recordings using this array were done in mice under urethane anesthesia and compared to those made using silicon-based probes manufactured at the Center for Neural Communication Technology, University of Michigan. The two electrode arrays yielded similar results.

Asymmetric temporal properties in the receptive field of retinal transient amacrine cells.

The speed of signal conduction is a factor determining the temporal properties of individual neurons and neuronal networks. We observed very different conduction velocities within the receptive field of fast-type On-Off transient amacrine cells in carp retina cells, which are tightly coupled to each other via gap junctions. The fastest speeds were found in the dorsal area of the receptive fields, on average five times faster than those detected within the ventral area.

Temporal specificity in the cortical plasticity of visual space representation.

The circuitry and function of mammalian visual cortex are shaped by patterns of visual stimuli, a plasticity likely mediated by synaptic modifications. In the adult cat, asynchronous visual stimuli in two adjacent retinal regions controlled the relative spike timing of two groups of cortical neurons with high precision. This asynchronous pairing induced rapid modifications of intracortical connections and shifts in receptive fields.