Active pixel sensor array for high spatio-temporal resolution electrophysiological recordings from single cell to large scale neuronal networks.

This paper presents a chip-based electrophysiological platform enabling the study of micro- and macro-circuitry in in-vitro neuronal preparations. The approach is based on a 64x64 microelectrode array device providing extracellular electrophysiological activity recordings with high spatial (21 microm of electrode separation) and temporal resolution (from 0.13 ms for 4096 microelectrodes down to 8 micros for 64 microelectrodes). Applied to in-vitro neuronal preparations, we show how this approach enables neuronal signals to be acquired for investigating neuronal activity from single cells and microcircuits to large scale neuronal networks. The main elements of the platform are the metallic microelectrode array (MEA) implemented in Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology similar to a light imager, the in-pixel integrated low-noise amplifiers (11 microVrms) and the high-speed random addressing logic. The chip is combined with a real-time acquisition system providing the capability to record at 7.8 kHz/electrode the whole array and to process the acquired signals.

Large-scale, high-resolution data acquisition system for extracellular recording of electrophysiological activity.

A platform for high spatial and temporal resolution electrophysiological recordings of in vitro electrogenic cell cultures handling 4096 electrodes at a full frame rate of 8 kHz is presented and validated by means of cardiomyocyte cultures. Based on an active pixel sensor device implementing an array of metallic electrodes, the system provides acquisitions at spatial resolutions of 42 microm on an active area of 2.67 mm x 2.67 mm, and in the zooming mode, temporal resolutions down to 8 micros on 64 randomly selected electrodes. The low-noise performances of the integrated amplifier (11 microV (rms)) combined with a hardware implementation inspired by image/video processing concepts enable high-resolution acquisitions with real-time preprocessing capabilities adapted to the handling of the large amount of acquired data.