CMOS nanoelectrode array for all-electrical intracellular electrophysiological imaging.

Area of Science:

• Neurobiology
• Cardiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Electrophysiology

Background:

• High-precision electrophysiological recording of large cell networks is a significant challenge.
• Existing methods often lack the resolution or scale for comprehensive network analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel high-fidelity all-electrical electrophysiological imager for parallel intracellular recording at the network level.
• To enable simultaneous intracellular recording from hundreds of connected cells.

Main Methods:

• Integration of nanoscale intracellular electrodes with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits.
• Development of a CMOS nanoelectrode array with 1,024 recording/stimulation pixels and vertical nanoelectrodes.
• Simultaneous intracellular membrane potential recording from in vitro neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated parallel intracellular recording from hundreds of connected cardiomyocytes.
• Successfully utilized the imager to assess pharmaceutical effects on cardiomyocyte network dynamics.
• Achieved high-fidelity, network-level electrophysiological data.

Conclusions:

• The developed CMOS nanoelectrode array facilitates unprecedented network-level intracellular electrophysiological recording.
• This technology opens new avenues for tissue-based pharmacological screening for cardiac and neuronal diseases.
• Enables fundamental studies of electrogenic cell networks.