Long-term, multisite, parallel, in-cell recording and stimulation by an array of extracellular microelectrodes

Here we report on the development of a novel neuroelectronic interface consisting of an array of noninvasive gold-mushroom-shaped microelectrodes (gMmicroEs) that practically provide intracellular recordings and stimulation of many individual neurons, while the electrodes maintain an extracellular position. The development of this interface allows simultaneous, multisite, long-term recordings of action potentials and subthreshold potentials with matching quality and signal-to-noise ratio of conventional intracellular sharp glass microelectrodes or patch electrodes. We refer to the novel approach as "in-cell recording and stimulation by extracellular electrodes" to differentiate it from the classical intracellular recording and stimulation methods. This novel technique is expected to revolutionize the analysis of neuronal networks in relations to learning, information storage and can be used to develop novel drugs as well as high fidelity neural prosthetics and brain-machine systems.