Neural activity propagation in an unfolded hippocampal preparation with a penetrating micro-electrode array

This protocol describes a method for preparing a new in vitro flat hippocampus preparation combined with a micro-machined array to map neural activity in the hippocampus. The transverse hippocampal slice preparation is the most common tissue preparation to study hippocampus electrophysiology. A longitudinal hippocampal slice was also developed in order to investigate longitudinal connections in the hippocampus. The intact mouse hippocampus can also be maintained in vitro because its thickness allows adequate oxygen diffusion. However, these three preparations do not provide direct access to neural propagation since some of the tissue is either missing or folded. The unfolded intact hippocampus provides both transverse and longitudinal connections in a flat configuration for direct access to the tissue to analyze the full extent of signal propagation in the hippocampus in vitro. In order to effectively monitor the neural activity from the cell layer, a custom made penetrating micro-electrode array (PMEA) was fabricated and applied to the unfolded hippocampus. The PMEA with 64 electrodes of 200 µm in height could record neural activity deep inside the mouse hippocampus. The unique combination of an unfolded hippocampal preparation and the PMEA provides a new in-vitro tool to study the speed and direction of propagation of neural activity in the two-dimensional CA1-CA3 regions of the hippocampus with a high signal to noise ratio.