Hartner Jeremiah P, Yi Dongyang, Zhu Harrison L, Watson Brendon O, Chen Lei
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, United States.
Front Neurosci. 2024 Oct 17;18:1478421. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1478421. eCollection 2024.
Electrophysiological recordings from single neurons are crucial for understanding the complex functioning of the brain and for developing eventual therapeutic interventions. For electrophysiology, the accuracy and fidelity of invasive implantations of small devices remains unmatched. This study introduces an innovative, cost-efficient, 3D-printed headcap with embedded microdrive (THEM) system designed to streamline the manual labor-intensive electrode implantation process for efficient and precise multi-region brain neural probe implantations. A custom bregma-referenced headcap design and fabrication, embedded microdrive integration, and upper support structure for probe packaging are described. With the Sprague Dawley rat as test species and medial prefrontal cortex and CA1 of the dorsal hippocampus as targets, surgeries and electrophysiological recordings were conducted to test the capability of the THEM system as compared to conventional surgical methods. By shifting manual stereotaxic alignment work to pre-surgical preparation of a fully assembled headcap system, incorporating fully preassembled upper support framework for packaging management, and easy customization for specific experiment designs and probe types, our system significantly reduces the surgical time, simplifies multi-implant procedures, and enhances procedural accuracy and repeatability. The THEM system demonstrates a significant improvement over conventional surgical implantation methods and offers a promising tool for future neuroscience research.
对单个神经元进行电生理记录对于理解大脑的复杂功能以及开发最终的治疗干预措施至关重要。对于电生理学而言，小型设备侵入性植入的准确性和保真度仍然无可匹敌。本研究介绍了一种创新的、具有成本效益的、带有嵌入式微驱动器（THEM）的3D打印头帽系统，该系统旨在简化人工劳动密集型的电极植入过程，以实现高效且精确的多区域脑神经元探针植入。文中描述了一种定制的以囟门为参考的头帽设计与制造、嵌入式微驱动器集成以及用于探针封装的上部支撑结构。以Sprague Dawley大鼠为实验物种，以内侧前额叶皮质和背侧海马体的CA1为靶点，进行了手术和电生理记录，以测试THEM系统与传统手术方法相比的能力。通过将手动立体定位对准工作转移到完全组装好的头帽系统的术前准备中，纳入用于封装管理的完全预组装的上部支撑框架，并针对特定实验设计和探针类型进行轻松定制，我们的系统显著减少了手术时间，简化了多植入程序，并提高了程序的准确性和可重复性。THEM系统相较于传统手术植入方法有显著改进，为未来的神经科学研究提供了一个有前景的工具。
