On the effect of long-term electrical stimulation on three-dimensional cell cultures: Hen embryo brain spheroids

A comprehensive dataset of multielectrode array recordings was collected from three-dimensional hen embryo brain cell cultures, termed spheroids, under long-term electrical stimulation. The aim is to understand the ongoing changes in the spiking activity under electrical stimulation within the lifetime of 14-72DIV of the neuronal networks contained therein. The spiking dynamics were analyzed and behavioral characteristics derived. Some effects on spiking patterns and exhaustion were followed in culture lifetime. With respect to the culture development, two main types of spiking exhaustion were found: one which materializes in the form of a drop in the sporadic (tonic) spiking frequency at the later maturation stages; and another associated with decreasing spiking train appearance throughout an experimental period. © 2008 Uroukov and Bull

Computer music meets unconventional computing: Towards sound synthesis with in vitro neuronal networks

The feasibility of synthesizing sounds with hybrid wetware-silicon devices has been explored with the use of in vitro neuronal networks. The basics of culturing brain cells has been introduced while the procedures that has been established to stimulate the in vitro neuronal networks has been presented. Then, the technique on sonifying the behavior of neuronal networks which has been developed was described while the initial results of developing the techniques to steer the behavior of the networks have been reported. The main goal of this paper is to have some form of controllability and repeatability in the system. This sound-synthesis technique has an important property in that it has the ability to produce different types of sounds with a certain degree of predictable control

Electrophysiological measurements in three-dimensional in vivo-mimetic organotypic cell cultures: Preliminary studies with hen embryo brain spheroids

Using three-dimensional artificial tissue constructs shown to offer organotypic functionality, hen embryo brain spheroids were used as a novel electrophysiological paradigm. For the first time, single spontaneous action potentials were recorded from spheroids in culture at day 7 in vitro (DIV) using multi-electrode arrays. At DIV14 'bursting behaviour' was observed. Simple stimulation was found to induce an increase in spiking frequency with an effect that ramped up over DIV7-14. By DIV14, the frequency under stimulation was typically over twice that of the corresponding spontaneous spiking. These results indicate strong self-organizing processes in vitro within the neuronal networks of the three-dimensional spheroid cell cultures. The organotypic in vivo-mimetic nature of the spheroid paradigm was confirmed by electron microscopy that revealed an outer layer of glial cells, a glial limitans, while immunostaining for Neurofilament and Glial Fibrilliary Acidic Protein demonstrated neuronal cells with a centralized neuronal and synaptic distribution. Basic biochemical functionality was also determined and Acetylcholinesterase measured, indicating the activity of acetylcholine receptors. Thus the organotypic hen embryo brain spheroid model may offer a new paradigm in which to explore neuronal networks. © 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved