Towards Bio - Artificial Systems: Networks of Neurons Coupled to Planar Arrays of Microtransducers

摘要

Present - day silicon micromachining allows the researcher to shape devices and microstructures in such a way that they can be intimately coupled to populations of neurons, both in vivo and in vitro. As a result, the collective electrophysiological activity of networks of neurons coupled to arrays of microelectrodes can be recorded and stimulated for a long period of time. Parallel developments of biophysical models allow the researcher to describe phenomena, such as synchronisation of the electrical activity of neurons belonging to a network, by appropriate computer simulations. In this way a positive feedback between experiments and model prediction is provided. The great potentialities of this neurobioengineering approach is analysed in this paper by considering networks of cortical neurons from rat embryos.