Functional Characterization of Three-Dimensional Cortical Cultures for In Vitro Modeling of Brain Networks.

Three-dimensional (3D) in vitro cultures recapitulate key features of the brain including morphology, cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions, gradients of factors, and mechanical properties. However, there remains a need for experimental and computational tools to investigate network functions in these 3D models. To address this need, we present an experimental system based on 3D scaffold-based cortical neuron cultures in which we expressed the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6f to record neuronal activity at the millimeter-scale.