8.2.15

Physical Electronics Dept. SEMINAR

***** Seminar *****

You are invited to attend a lecture

by

Nir Atzmon

(Msc. student under the supervision of Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob and Prof. Avraham Gover)

School of Electrical Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel

Real-Time feedback stimulator for investigating neuroplasticity in cultured networks

In-vitro neuronal cultures offer exciting possibilities for studying neuronal information coding and processing. A network level approach is necessary to fully understand information processing in the brain, as every function in the human brain employs correlated activities of large populations of neurons. It was shown that synaptic plasticity plays a crucial role in the synchronized behavior of the network, and therefore investigating neuroplasticity in cultured networks may yield new insight as to the functions of neuronal circuits in the brain. While much is known on the cellular mechanism underlying synaptic plasticity, making the leap from the cellular level to the network level is far from trivial.  Previous studies aimed at uncovering the dynamics governing network plasticity have used open-loop assays to study the response of neuronal networks to external stimulation by combining electrical stimulation of cultured networks on multi-electrode arrays, in conjunction with extracellular recording.

In this work we developed a closed-loop assay for investigating neuroplasticity in cultured networks. The assay makes use of a real-time feedback stimulator (RTFS) that responds to network activity within a few milliseconds and is both generic and easily modified to suit different experimental setups. In order to demonstrate the potential of such a system in the study of network plasticity, we used the RTFS to generate electrical stimulation to the network based on real-time detection of spontaneous burst patterns and were able to show a decrease in inter-burst correlation, indicating attenuation of the synchronized activity of the network. These findings imply that similar closed loop assays can be used in the study of network-level plasticity, and a generic system, such as the one presented here, can open up a wide range of research possibilities, for example in the study of epilepsy. 

Sunday, February 8, 2015, at 15:00

Room 011, EE- KITOT building