Publication: Step-by-step instructions for retina recordings with perforated MEAs

Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are extremely useful for simultaneous electrophysiological recordings of multiple neurons and they are provide valuable insights in retina research.

The major output neurons (the retinal ganglion cells) form an accessible monolayer in a number of species. This structure facilitates the recording of retinal responses to visual stimuli on MEAs.

However, when using conventional arrays for retinal recordings – with the electrodes embedded in ceramic or glass plates – three problems occur:

• Insufficient contact between the tissue and the electrodes can result in a low signal-to-noise ratio
• The cells that are located at the bottom of the chamber might be insufficiently supplied with nutrients
• The tissue might move during recordings

 

One way to overcome these difficulties is to use perforated MEAs (pMEAs). The recording electrodes are embedded in a perforated foil. By applying a negative pressure from below, the tissue is sucked to the electrodes and hold in place.

Researchers led by Thomas Mϋnch of the Retinal Circuits and Optogenetics group at Tϋbingen University have recently published a paper in PLOS One, describing step-by-step instructions for setting up and performing retinal recordings using pMEAs. For their experiments, they used a MEA-System with perfusion ground plate and pMEAs from Multi Channel Systems.