"Stable neural ensemble recordings in awake head-fixed rat".

CAMILO MININNI, SERGIO LEW , SILVANO ZANUTTO

Cordoba Huerta Grande

Congreso; XXVI Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia.; 2011

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

We present an easy to implement Head-fixed setup for multielectrode recordings in awake rats. Animals were implanted with an “X” shaped aluminum piece. During the recording sesions, the implant was screwed in four points to two acrylic pieces, which are in turn fastened to the ear bars holders of a standard stereotaxic apparatus. The setup was implemented successfully in a classical conditioning task: a water deprived rat was presented with 1 KHz tones, which predicts reward (0.06 ml of sweetened water), and 8 KHz tones not paired with reward. Simultaneous recordings with tetrodes were made in Prefrontal Cortex and Ventral Tegmental Area. Stable (up to 40 minutes) single unit activity of many neurons in both areas was obtained. The shape of the implant can be easily modified for recordings in different brain areas. Also, implementation of other recording techniques like fastcyclic voltammetry,microinjection and calcium imaging could be achieved.