An acute method for multielectrode recording from the interior of sulci and other deep brain areas

Abstract

Most current techniques for multielectrode recording involve chronically implanting planar or staggered arrays of electrodes. Such chronic implants are suited for studying a stable population of neurons over long periods of time but exploratory studies of the physiological properties of cortical subdivisions require the ability to sample multiple neural populations. This makes it necessary to penetrate frequently with small multielectrode assemblies. Some commercial systems allow daily penetrations with multiple electrodes, but they tend to be bulky, complex and expensive, and some make no provision for piercing the barrier of fibrous tissue that often covers the brain surface. We describe an apparatus for inserting bundles of 3–16 electrodes on a daily basis, thus allowing different neural populations to be sampled. The system is designed to allow penetration through a thick dura mater into deep brain structures. We discuss a simple method for performing multielectrode recording from cortical areas buried inside sulci using acute implantations of a bundle of electrodes. Our results show that it is possible to obtain stable recordings for at least 4 h and that repeated implantations yield an average of two neurons per electrode with every electrode in the bundle picking up at least one single neuron in 70% of the implantations.