Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
Biosensors (Basel). 2023 Apr 26;13(5):502. doi: 10.3390/bios13050502.
In the study of the brain, large and high-density microelectrode arrays have been widely used to study the behavior of neurotransmission. CMOS technology has facilitated these devices by enabling the integration of high-performance amplifiers directly on-chip. Usually, these large arrays measure only the voltage spikes resulting from action potentials traveling along firing neuronal cells. However, at synapses, communication between neurons occurs by the release of neurotransmitters, which cannot be measured on typical CMOS electrophysiology devices. Development of electrochemical amplifiers has resulted in the measurement of neurotransmitter exocytosis down to the level of a single vesicle. To effectively monitor the complete picture of neurotransmission, measurement of both action potentials and neurotransmitter activity is needed. Current efforts have not resulted in a device that is capable of the simultaneous measurement of action potential and neurotransmitter release at the same spatiotemporal resolution needed for a comprehensive study of neurotransmission. In this paper, we present a true dual-mode CMOS device that fully integrates 256-ch electrophysiology amplifiers and 256-ch electrochemical amplifiers, along with an on-chip 512 electrode microelectrode array capable of simultaneous measurement from all 512 channels.
在大脑研究中，大型高密度微电极阵列已被广泛用于研究神经递质的行为。CMOS 技术通过能够在芯片上直接集成高性能放大器，为这些设备提供了便利。通常，这些大型阵列仅测量源自沿发射神经元细胞传播的动作电位的电压尖峰。然而，在突触处，神经元之间的通信是通过神经递质的释放来实现的，而这在典型的 CMOS 电生理学设备上无法测量。电化学放大器的发展导致了能够测量神经递质胞吐作用达到单个囊泡的水平。为了有效监测神经传递的完整情况，需要同时测量动作电位和神经递质活性。目前的努力尚未导致一种能够在全面研究神经传递所需的相同时空分辨率下同时测量动作电位和神经递质释放的设备。在本文中，我们提出了一种真正的双模 CMOS 器件，它完全集成了 256 通道电生理学放大器和 256 通道电化学放大器，以及一个带有 512 个电极的片上微电极阵列，能够同时从所有 512 个通道进行测量。
