Chronically implanted Neuropixels probes enable high-yield recordings in freely moving mice.

Ashley L Juavinett,George Bekheet,Anne K Churchland

doi:10.7554/elife.47188

Ashley L Juavinett, George Bekheet + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.47188

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Abstract

The advent of high-yield electrophysiology using Neuropixels probes is now enabling researchers to simultaneously record hundreds of neurons with remarkably high signal to noise. However, these probes have not been well-suited to use in freely moving mice. It is critical to study neural activity in unrestricted animals for many reasons, such as leveraging ethological approaches to study neural circuits. We designed and implemented a novel device that allows Neuropixels probes to be customized for chronically implanted experiments in freely moving mice. We demonstrate the ease and utility of this approach in recording hundreds of neurons during an ethological behavior across weeks of experiments. We provide the technical drawings and procedures for other researchers to do the same. Importantly, our approach enables researchers to explant and reuse these valuable probes, a transformative step which has not been established for recordings with any type of chronically-implanted probe.

Highlights

Observing behavior and recording neural activity in freely moving animals is crucial for our understanding of how the brain operates
The recording cable can be attached to the top of the implant, suspended above the mouse’s head
We present a significant advance in our ability to use and recycle high-density silicon probes such as Neuropixels

Summary

Introduction

Observing behavior and recording neural activity in freely moving animals is crucial for our understanding of how the brain operates. Freely moving recordings can be challenging, recording from unrestrained mice enables researchers to investigate behaviors that involve natural movements and offers ethologically valid insight into neural activity (Juavinett et al, 2018; Markowitz et al, 2018). Electrophysiology in freely moving animals is commonly performed with static electrode arrays or microdrives (Okun et al, 2016; Vandecasteele et al, 2012; Voigts et al, 2013). These techniques have contributed much to the field, but are not at pace with the spatiotemporal coverage of cutting edge recording techniques, such as Neuropixels probes (Jun et al, 2017; Steinmetz et al, 2018). Given the experimental tractability of the mouse and the increasing interest in ethological approaches in neuroscience research, we sought to develop a system that would enable researchers to perform repeatable high-yield recordings

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