Multiple single-unit long-term tracking on organotypic hippocampal slices using high-density microelectrode arrays

A novel system to cultivate and record from organotypic brain slices directly on high-density microelectrode arrays (HD-MEA) was developed. This system allows for continuous recording of electrical activity of specific individual neurons at high spatial resolution while monitoring at the same time, neuronal network activity. For the first time, the electrical activity patterns of single neurons and the corresponding neuronal network in an organotypic hippocampal slice culture were studied during several consecutive weeks at daily intervals. An unsupervised iterative spike-sorting algorithm, based on PCA and k-means clustering, was developed to assign the activities to the single units. Spike-triggered average extracellular waveforms of an action potential recorded across neighboring electrodes, termed ‘footprints’ of single-units were generated and tracked over weeks. The developed system offers the potential to study chronic impacts of drugs or genetic modifications on individual neurons in slice preparations over extended times.