Emergent functional properties of neuronal networks with controlled topology.

ABSTRACT: The interplay between anatomical connectivity and dynamics in neural networks plays a key role in the functional properties of the brain and in the associated connectivity changes induced by neural diseases. However, a detailed experimental investigation of this interplay at both cellular and population scales in the living brain is limited by accessibility. Alternatively, to investigate the basic operational principles with morphological, electrophysiological and computational methods, the activity emerging from large in vitro networks of primary neurons organized with imposed topologies can be studied. Here, we validated the use of a new bio-printing approach, which effectively maintains the topology of hippocampal cultures in vitro and investigated, by patch-clamp and MEA electrophysiol

SUBMITTER: Marconi E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3321036 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature