Development of a Planar Gold Microelectrode Array Arrangement Compatible with Attachment and Culture of Neuronal Cells

SANTIAGO A. CHIAPPINI; STEIMBERG, M.; DIEGO J. KORMES; A. A. VIALE; EDUARDO CORTON

Pinamar

Congreso; X Congress of the Panamerican Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PABMB), the XLI Annual Meeting of the Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SAIB) and the XX Annual Meeting of the Argentine Society for Neurochemistr; 2005

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter {margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 220.95pt right 441.9pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:595.45pt 841.7pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 10.0cm 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:0cm; mso-footer-margin:72.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The construction of a planar array of microelectrodes (MEA) following an easy and inexpensive method previously described was optimized, in order to allow higher microelectrode density; in the array obtained, each gold electrode can be measured independently. The polymeric material than surrounds each electrode was assayed about its ability to allow neuronal growth. The design of our MEA allows easily replacement and its use as detector in a FIA system. The FIA system is composed by a laminar flow cell, peristaltic pump and a standard manifold, a pseudo-reference (Ag/AgCl) electrode as reference and counterelectode was used. The dimensions of each microelectrode (20-40 mm) are compatible with the neuronal cellular soma, and could allow as following the spontaneous electrical extracellular activity of the cells growing over the electrodes. Moreover, MEAs can be used to examine the activities of whole cells and tissues rather than single receptors (as in patch clamp experiments), and this approach can be very efficient as sensitive biochemical detectors.