A system for precise temperature control of isolated nervous tissue under optical access: Application to multi-electrode recordings

Ahlers, Malte T.; Ammermüller, Josef

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2013.06.007

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…While some other properties (e.g. contrast sensitivity, spontaneous spiking rates, etc) affecting retinal responses have been found to be temperature-dependent in normal retinas, further work is required to ascertain how these properties will be affected in photoreceptor degenerated retinas4445.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential stimulation of the retina with subretinally injected exogenous neurotransmitter: A biomimetic alternative to electrical stimulation

Rountree

Inayat

Troy

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Subretinal stimulation of the retina with neurotransmitters, the normal means of conveying visual information, is a potentially better alternative to electrical stimulation widely used in current retinal prostheses for treating blindness from photoreceptor degenerative diseases. Yet, no subretinal electrical or chemical stimulation study has stimulated the OFF and ON pathways differentially through inner retinal activation. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of differentially stimulating retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) through the inner nuclear layer of the retina with glutamate, a primary neurotransmitter chemical, in a biomimetic way. We show that controlled pulsatile delivery of glutamate into the subsurface of explanted wild-type rat retinas elicits highly localized simultaneous inhibitory and excitatory spike rate responses in OFF and ON RGCs. We also present the spatiotemporal characteristics of RGC responses to subretinally injected glutamate and the therapeutic stimulation parameters. Our findings could pave the way for future development of a neurotransmitter-based subretinal prosthesis offering more naturalistic vision and better visual acuity than electrical prostheses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential stimulation of the retina with subretinally injected exogenous neurotransmitter: A biomimetic alternative to electrical stimulation

Rountree

Inayat

Troy

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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“…This limited experimental time window does not allow examination of any long-term effects of chemical stimulation such as excitotoxicity. Another limitation of this specific protocol is the choice to record at room temperature as opposed to physiological temperature, which likely affects both the visually-and chemically-evoked spike rate responses, since previous studies have shown that lower recording temperatures can alter the spiking rate, response latency, and glutamate uptake rate among several other properties 34,35,36,37,38 . This limitation could be avoided by using a non-perforated MEA with a heated bottom plate, as opposed to the pMEA, which utilizes a specially designed bottom perfusion plate without a heated plate and/or an effective thermal debubbler for both top and bottom perfusion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodology for Biomimetic Chemical Neuromodulation of Rat Retinas with the Neurotransmitter Glutamate <em>In Vitro</em>

Rountree¹,

Troy²,

Saggere³

2017

JoVE

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Photoreceptor degenerative diseases cause irreparable blindness through the progressive loss of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Retinal prostheses are an emerging treatment for photoreceptor degenerative diseases that seek to restore vision by artificially stimulating the surviving retinal neurons in the hope of eliciting comprehensible visual perception in patients. Current retinal prostheses have demonstrated success in restoring limited vision to patients using an array of electrodes to electrically stimulate the retina but face substantial physical barriers in restoring high acuity, natural vision to patients. Chemical neurostimulation using native neurotransmitters is a biomimetic alternative to electrical stimulation and could bypass the fundamental limitations associated with retinal prostheses using electrical neurostimulation. Specifically, chemical neurostimulation has the potential to restore more natural vision with comparable or better visual acuities to patients by injecting very small quantities of neurotransmitters, the same natural agents of communication used by retinal chemical synapses, at much finer resolution than current electrical prostheses. However, as a relatively unexplored stimulation paradigm, there is no established protocol for achieving chemical stimulation of the retina in vitro. The purpose of this work is to provide a detailed framework for accomplishing chemical stimulation of the retina for investigators who wish to study the potential of chemical neuromodulation of the retina or similar neural tissues in vitro. In this work, we describe the experimental setup and methodology for eliciting retinal ganglion cell (RGC) spike responses similar to visual light responses in wild-type and photoreceptor-degenerated wholemount rat retinas by injecting controlled volumes of the neurotransmitter glutamate into the subretinal space using glass micropipettes and a custom multiport microfluidic device. This methodology and protocol are general enough to be adapted for neuromodulation using other neurotransmitters or even other neural tissues.

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“…In general, heat production by the coil system is a concern in bioelectromagnetic studies [40]. Since temperature is an omnipotent physiological parameter [41], temperature effects on the specimen caused by coil heating may obscure real effects or be mistaken for them. However, this is an issue primarily in studies with field strengths significantly higher than the earth's magnetic field.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Integration and evaluation of magnetic stimulation in physiology setups

et al. 2022

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A large number of behavioral experiments have demonstrated the existence of a magnetic sense in many animal species. Further, studies with immediate gene expression markers have identified putative brain regions involved in magnetic information processing. In contrast, very little is known about the physiology of the magnetic sense and how the magnetic field is neuronally encoded. In vivo electrophysiological studies reporting neuronal correlates of the magnetic sense either have turned out to be irreproducible for lack of appropriate artifact controls or still await independent replication. Thus far, the research field of magnetoreception has little exploited the power of ex vivo physiological studies, which hold great promise for enabling stringent controls. However, tight space constraints in a recording setup and the presence of magnetizable materials in setup components and microscope objectives make it demanding to generate well-defined magnetic stimuli at the location of the biological specimen. Here, we present a solution based on a miniature vector magnetometer, a coil driver, and a calibration routine for the coil system to compensate for magnetic distortions in the setup. The magnetometer fits in common physiology recording chambers and has a sufficiently small spatial integration area to allow for probing spatial inhomogeneities. The coil-driver allows for the generation of defined non-stationary fast changing magnetic stimuli. Our ex vivo multielectrode array recordings from avian retinal ganglion cells show that artifacts induced by rapid magnetic stimulus changes can mimic the waveform of biological spikes on single electrodes. However, induction artifacts can be separated clearly from biological responses if the spatio-temporal characteristics of the artifact on multiple electrodes is taken into account. We provide the complete hardware design data and software resources for the integrated magnetic stimulation system.

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A system for precise temperature control of isolated nervous tissue under optical access: Application to multi-electrode recordings

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Differential stimulation of the retina with subretinally injected exogenous neurotransmitter: A biomimetic alternative to electrical stimulation

Differential stimulation of the retina with subretinally injected exogenous neurotransmitter: A biomimetic alternative to electrical stimulation

Methodology for Biomimetic Chemical Neuromodulation of Rat Retinas with the Neurotransmitter Glutamate <em>In Vitro</em>

Integration and evaluation of magnetic stimulation in physiology setups

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