A multielectrode microcompartment culture platform for studying signal transduction in the nervous system

Abstract

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of a microfabricated compartmented culture system (μ-CCS) useful for electrophysiological signaling studies in cultured neurons. The focus of the paper is the process of interfacing the μ-CCS with cultured neurons and to demonstrate the applicability of the system for biochemical-mediated electrophysiological studies. Moreover, we show that we can record action potentials from cultured neurons through the extracellular compartmented application of elevated levels of K⁺ ions. Finally, we show that we can isolate the electrophysiological effects of the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin in one of the compartments of a two compartment culture while recording electrophysiological data from both compartments.