Wong R O
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA.
Histochem J. 1998 Mar;30(3):217-29. doi: 10.1023/a:1003251504594.
Complex but coordinated interactions involving ensembles of neuronal cells result in the accurate processing of information in the adult central nervous system. However, recent studies monitoring the global patterns of activity of neuronal populations have demonstrated that immature neurons also interact to produce coordinated patterns of activity during the early stages of development. In particular, these patterns of coordinated activity occur during the period when neuronal connections are established, thus leading us to believe that such activity patterns might underlie the precision to which many neural pathways are wired up. Multielectrode recording and calcium imaging are two of the techniques that have been instrumental in revealing the spatial and temporal properties of the coordinated activity of developing neural networks in vitro. While multielectrode arrays measure the action potential activity of the cells, calcium imaging permits changes in intracellular calcium levels to be monitored over time. Both techniques have been used successfully to monitor the activity of cellular networks in culture, but they have also been applied in assessing the patterns of activity in intact or semi-intact pieces of neural tissues, such as the developing retina, neocortex and spinal cord. More recently, it has also been possible to correlate the structure and function of the cellular components of the networks by combining intracellular dye filling with the multineuronal recordings. In this review, brief descriptions and the applications of the two techniques will be presented, and the advantages and limitations of multielectrode array will be compared with that of calcium imaging using recordings of the developing mammalian retina as the primary example.
涉及神经元细胞集合的复杂但协调的相互作用导致成年中枢神经系统中信息的精确处理。然而，最近监测神经元群体活动全局模式的研究表明，未成熟神经元在发育早期也会相互作用以产生协调的活动模式。特别是，这些协调活动模式发生在神经元连接建立的时期，这使我们相信这种活动模式可能是许多神经通路精确连接的基础。多电极记录和钙成像技术是揭示体外发育神经网络协调活动的时空特性的两种重要技术。多电极阵列测量细胞的动作电位活动，而钙成像则可以随时间监测细胞内钙水平的变化。这两种技术都已成功用于监测培养中的细胞网络活动，但它们也被应用于评估完整或半完整神经组织片段中的活动模式，如发育中的视网膜、新皮层和脊髓。最近，通过将细胞内染料填充与多神经元记录相结合，还能够关联网络细胞成分的结构和功能。在这篇综述中，将简要介绍这两种技术及其应用，并以发育中的哺乳动物视网膜记录为例，比较多电极阵列与钙成像的优缺点。
