Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Behavior, CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Manipulation, The Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institution, Shenzhen, 518055, People's Republic of China.
School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230001, People's Republic of China.
J Neural Eng. 2022 Jan 24;19(1). doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ac494e.
Extracellular electrophysiology has been widely applied to neural circuit dissections. However, long-term multiregional recording in free-moving mice remains a challenge. Low-cost and easy-fabrication of elaborate drivable electrodes is required for their prevalence.A three-layer nested construct (outside diameter, OD ∼ 1.80 mm, length ∼10 mm, <0.1 g) was recruited as a drivable component, which consisted of an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer heat-shrinkable tube, non-closed loop ceramic bushing, and stainless ferrule with a bulge twining silver wire. The supporting and working components were equipped with drivable components to be assembled into a drivable microwire electrode array with a nested structure (drivable MEANS). Two drivable microwire electrode arrays were independently implanted for chronic recording in different brain areas at respective angles. An optic fiber was easily loaded into the drivable MEANS to achieve optogenetic modulation and electrophysiological recording simultaneously.The drivable MEANS had lightweight (∼0.37 g), small (∼15 mm × 15 mm × 4 mm), and low cost (⩽$64.62). Two drivable MEANS were simultaneously implanted in mice, and high-quality electrophysiological recordings could be applied ⩾5 months after implantation in freely behaving animals. Electrophysiological recordings and analysis of the lateral septum (LS) and lateral hypothalamus in food-seeking behavior demonstrated that our drivable MEANS can be used to dissect the function of neural circuits. An optical fiber-integrated drivable MEANS (∼0.47 g) was used to stimulate and record LS neurons, which suggested that changes in working components can achieve more functions than electrophysiological recordings, such as optical stimulation, drug release, and calcium imaging.Drivable MEANS is an easily fabricated, lightweight drivable microwire electrode array for multiple-region electrophysiological recording in free-moving mice. Our design is likely to be a valuable platform for both current and prospective users, as well as for developers of multifunctional electrodes for free-moving mice.
细胞外电生理学已广泛应用于神经回路剖析。然而，在自由活动的小鼠中进行长期的多区域记录仍然是一个挑战。需要低成本且易于制造的精巧可驱动电极才能普及。一个三层嵌套结构（外径，OD∼1.80mm，长度∼10mm，<0.1g）被用作可驱动组件，它由乙烯-醋酸乙烯共聚物热缩管、非封闭陶瓷衬套和带有凸起缠绕银丝的不锈钢套圈组成。支撑和工作组件配备有可驱动组件，可组装成具有嵌套结构的可驱动微丝电极阵列（可驱动 MEANS）。两个可驱动微丝电极阵列独立植入，以在各自的角度对不同脑区进行慢性记录。光纤很容易装入可驱动 MEANS 中，以实现光遗传学调节和电生理记录的同时进行。可驱动 MEANS 重量轻（∼0.37g）、体积小（∼15mm×15mm×4mm）、成本低（⩽$64.62）。两个可驱动 MEANS 同时植入小鼠体内，在自由活动动物中植入后 ⩾5 个月可进行高质量的电生理记录。在觅食行为中对侧隔核（LS）和外侧下丘脑的电生理记录和分析表明，我们的可驱动 MEANS 可用于剖析神经回路的功能。光纤集成的可驱动 MEANS（∼0.47g）用于刺激和记录 LS 神经元，这表明工作组件的变化可以实现比电生理记录更多的功能，例如光学刺激、药物释放和钙成像。可驱动 MEANS 是一种易于制造的、重量轻的可驱动微丝电极阵列，可用于自由活动小鼠的多区域电生理记录。我们的设计很可能成为当前和潜在用户以及用于自由活动小鼠的多功能电极的开发人员的有价值的平台。
