Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, The Italian Institute of Technology, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genoa, Italy.
Neuroscience. 2010 Feb 3;165(3):692-704. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.11.018. Epub 2009 Nov 14.
The intact brain is continuously targeted by a wealth of stimuli with distinct spatio-temporal patterns which modify, since the very beginning of development, the activity and the connectivity of neuronal networks. In this paper, we used dissociated neuronal cultures coupled to microelectrode arrays (MEAs) to study the response of cortical neuron assemblies to low-frequency stimuli constantly delivered over weeks in vitro. We monitored the spontaneous activity of the cultures before and after the stimulation sessions, as well as their evoked response to the stimulus. During in vitro development, the vast majority of the cultures responded to the stimulation by significantly increasing the bursting activity and a widespread stabilization of electrical activity was observed after the third week of age. A similar trend was present between the spontaneous activity of the networks observed over 30 min after the stimulus and the responses evoked by the stimulus itself, although no significant differences in spontaneous activity were detected between stimulated and non-stimulated cultures belonging to the same preparations. The data indicate that the stimulation had a delayed effect modulating responsiveness capability of the network without directly affecting its intrinsic in vitro development.
完整的大脑不断受到具有不同时空模式的大量刺激的影响，这些刺激从发育的最初阶段就改变了神经元网络的活动和连接。在本文中，我们使用分离的神经元培养物与微电极阵列（MEA）相结合，研究了皮质神经元集合对体外数周内持续提供的低频刺激的反应。我们在刺激前后监测培养物的自发活动以及它们对刺激的诱发反应。在体外发育过程中，绝大多数培养物通过显著增加爆发活动对刺激作出反应，并且在第三周后观察到电活动的广泛稳定化。在刺激后 30 分钟观察到的网络的自发活动与刺激本身引起的反应之间存在类似的趋势，尽管在属于同一制剂的刺激和非刺激培养物之间未检测到自发活动的显著差异。数据表明，刺激具有延迟效应，调节网络的响应能力，而不直接影响其内在的体外发育。
