Swadlow Harvey A, Bereshpolova Yulia, Bezdudnaya Tatiana, Cano Monica, Stoelzel Carl R
Department of Psychology, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
J Neurophysiol. 2005 May;93(5):2959-65. doi: 10.1152/jn.01141.2004. Epub 2004 Dec 15.
Arrays of closely spaced quartz-insulated, platinum-tungsten microelectrodes are widely used to obtain acute recordings from chronically prepared subjects. These electrodes have excellent recording characteristics and can be fabricated to a wide variety of tip specifications. Typically, in such experiments, electrodes are introduced into, and removed from, the brain on a daily basis and, over many months of study, hundreds of penetrations may be made through an intact dura. This procedure has benefits as well as problems and risks. For some experimental aims, it might be desirable to leave the microelectrodes within the brain so that the penetrations could be continued on subsequent days. This would allow a more thorough and systematic exploration of the neurons that lie along the trajectory of each of the closely aligned electrodes and would minimize risks and preparation time associated with daily electrode insertions. Here we present a means for achieving this aim using arrays of sharp, flexible Reitboeck electrodes of extremely fine diameter (40-microm shaft diameter, pulled and ground to a fine tip). We show that these electrodes retain their excellent recording characteristics and can remain under microdrive control within the brain for periods of many months and, in one remarkable case, for >4 years.
紧密排列的石英绝缘铂钨微电极阵列被广泛用于从长期准备的实验对象获取急性记录。这些电极具有出色的记录特性，并且可以制造成各种尖端规格。通常，在这类实验中，电极每天被插入大脑并取出，在长达数月的研究过程中，可能会通过完整的硬脑膜进行数百次穿刺。这个过程有好处也有问题和风险。对于一些实验目的，可能希望将微电极留在大脑内，以便在后续几天继续进行穿刺。这将允许更全面、系统地探索沿着每个紧密排列电极轨迹的神经元，并将与每日电极插入相关的风险和准备时间降至最低。在这里，我们展示了一种使用极细直径（轴直径40微米，拉制并研磨成细尖端）的尖锐、柔性赖特伯克电极阵列来实现这一目标的方法。我们表明，这些电极保持了其出色的记录特性，并且可以在微驱动控制下在大脑中保持数月，在一个显著的案例中，长达4年以上。
