Prolonging life in chick forebrain-neuron culture and acquiring spontaneous spiking activity on a microelectrode array

SY Kuang, Z Wang, T Huang, L Wei, T Xi, M Kindy… - Biotechnology …, 2015 - Springer
SY Kuang, Z Wang, T Huang, L Wei, T Xi, M Kindy, BZ Gao
Biotechnology letters, 2015Springer
Various types of animal neurons were cultured on a microelectrode array (MEA) platform to
form biosensors to detect potential environmental neurotoxins. For a large-scale screening
tool, rodent MEA-based cortical-neuron biosensors would be very costly but chick forebrain
neurons (FBNs) are abundant, cost-effective, and easy to dissect. However, chick FBNs
have a lifespan of~ 14 days in vitro and their spontaneous spike activity (SSA) has been
difficult to develop and detect. We used a high-density neuron-glia co-culture on an MEA to …
Abstract
Various types of animal neurons were cultured on a microelectrode array (MEA) platform to form biosensors to detect potential environmental neurotoxins. For a large-scale screening tool, rodent MEA-based cortical-neuron biosensors would be very costly but chick forebrain neurons (FBNs) are abundant, cost-effective, and easy to dissect. However, chick FBNs have a lifespan of ~14 days in vitro and their spontaneous spike activity (SSA) has been difficult to develop and detect. We used a high-density neuron-glia co-culture on an MEA to prolong chick FBN lifetime to 3 months with lifetime-long SSA. A remarkable embryonic age-dependency in the culture’s morphology, lifespan, and most features of SSA signal was discovered. Our results show the feasibility of developing a chick FBN-MEA biosensor and also establish a new electrophysiological platform for functional study of an in vitro neuronal network.
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