BACKGROUND: Electrical stimulation of neurons is essential to control neuronal activities. Thus far, direct stimulation by whole-cell patch-clamp methods and extracellular stimulation using multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) have been performed commonly. While the whole-cell patch-clamp method merits from the precise control of stimulation, the use of MEAs takes advantage of maintaining neuronal activity over a long period owing to its non-invasiveness. An optogenetic technique has a targeting precision of a single-cell level, but this has difficulties in applying fast stimulation patterns due to the slow photoresponse of opsin. Alternative non-invasive methods capable of targeting a single neuron with arbitrary stimulation patterns open new possibility of controlling and monitoring neuronal activities over a long duration.
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