Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 25, Issue 3, Pages 680-688Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4209-04.2005
Keywords
bursting; dissociated culture; cortex; epilepsy; distributed stimulation; multi-electrode array; deep brain stimulation
Categories
Funding
- NIBIB NIH HHS [R01 EB000786, EB00786] Funding Source: Medline
- NINDS NIH HHS [R01 NS038628-04, NS44134, R01 NS038628, R01 NS044134, NS38628] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
One of the major modes of activity of high-density cultures of dissociated neurons is globally synchronized bursting. Unlike in vivo, neuronal ensembles in culture maintain activity patterns dominated by global bursts for the lifetime of the culture ( up to 2 years). We hypothesize that persistence of bursting is caused by a lack of input from other brain areas. To study this hypothesis, we grew small but dense monolayer cultures of cortical neurons and glia from rat embryos on multi-electrode arrays and used electrical stimulation to substitute for afferents. We quantified the burstiness of the firing of the cultures in spontaneous activity and during several stimulation protocols. Although slow stimulation through individual electrodes increased burstiness as a result of burst entrainment, rapid stimulation reduced burstiness. Distributing stimuli across several electrodes, as well as continuously fine-tuning stimulus strength with closed-loop feedback, greatly enhanced burst control. We conclude that externally applied electrical stimulation can substitute for natural inputs to cortical neuronal ensembles in transforming burst-dominated activity to dispersed spiking, more reminiscent of the awake cortex in vivo. This nonpharmacological method of controlling bursts will be a critical tool for exploring the information processing capacities of neuronal ensembles in vitro and has potential applications for the treatment of epilepsy.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available