The study of learning in networks of purified-cultured rat hippocampus neurons

Learning is crucial for brain functioning, especially for hippocampus. To understand the basis of physiological information processing of hippocampus, we developed the networks of purified-cultured rat hippocampus neurons on a planar 60-microelectrode array MEA. We describe how these networks are prepared, their structure, and the forms of spontaneous activity they exhibit. We stimulate the network at a low frequency until a desired predefined response is observed 50- 10 msec after a stimulus, at which point the stimulus is stopped for 5 min. Repeated cycles of this procedure ultimately lead to the desired response being directly elicited by the stimulus. These results demonstrate that there is learning in networks composed of purified-cultured hippocampus neurons.