A combined recording and microiontophoresis technique for input-output analysis of single neurons in the mammalian CNS.

A method is described for producing electrolytically sharpened and lacquer-insulated steel microelectrodes and for their attachment to a multibarrel micropipet assembly by light-curing bonding compound. This electrode complex is specially designed for recordings from deep brain structures. It permits the analysis of the input signals to and the output signals from a single neuron recorded simultaneously from an extracellular electrode position, termed juxtacellular recording. Furthermore it provides the ability to manipulate pharmacologically the input-output ratio expressed by the neuron under varying sequences of natural stimulation.