Juavinett Ashley L, Bekheet George, Churchland Anne K
UC San Diego, Division of Biological Sciences, La Jolla, United States.
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, United States.
Bio Protoc. 2020 Feb 5;10(3):e3503. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.3503.
Recording neural activity in unrestricted animals is necessary to unravel the neural basis of ethological behaviors. Recently, Neuropixels probes have made important strides in improving yield and lowering noise, but have limited use cases in freely moving animals. Although there are a number of studies demonstrating the use of these probes in headfixed mice, there are not established protocols for the use and reuse of them in a freely moving mouse. We therefore designed a novel device (the AMIE) that maximizes the potential value of these powerful probes. Here, we provide the technical drawings for the AMIE and detail its preparation, implantation, and explantation. With our approach, researchers can record hundreds of neurons during freely moving behavior across weeks of experiments, and then recycle valuable probes for future use.
在不受限制的动物中记录神经活动对于揭示行为学行为的神经基础至关重要。最近，神经像素探针在提高产量和降低噪声方面取得了重要进展，但在自由活动的动物中的应用案例有限。尽管有许多研究证明了这些探针在头部固定小鼠中的应用，但尚未建立在自由活动小鼠中使用和重复使用它们的既定方案。因此，我们设计了一种新颖的设备（AMIE），以最大限度地发挥这些强大探针的潜在价值。在这里，我们提供了AMIE的技术图纸，并详细说明了其制备、植入和取出过程。通过我们的方法，研究人员可以在数周的实验中，在自由活动行为期间记录数百个神经元，然后回收有价值的探针以供将来使用。
