Instrumentation for Large Scale Neuron Population Recording

该仪器为系统神经生理学开发的总体目标是创建功能设备，以便能够记录行为动物中非常大的神经元尖峰序列。该计划是开发和整合并行完成的三项任务。首先，将采用一种新的制造工艺来制造薄膜硅记录探针，每个探针有16个位点。探针形状和表面记录点特性将被优化，以适应长期的慢性记录，以匹配先前由P.I.完善的微线阵列的有效性。不同的表面记录点的间距和大小将在探针上形成图案，并测试不同的记录表面。一种制造柔性微电缆和多芯片模块的新技术将适用于将信号从记录探头引入外部信号处理电子设备。第二个任务是创建一个超大规模集成电路微芯片的设计，以检测和放大来自16个通道的信号。和多路信号到一个单一的输出引线。该芯片还将提供控制开关，以将测试/刺激应用于选定的输入。后来的目标将是生产一个集成有源电子的多位点探针，并创建多个探针组件。待开发的工艺特别有利于商业化生产方法。低成本、大批量的商业产品将通过北卡罗来纳州三角研究中心（Research Triangle， NC）微电子中心（MCNC）工作人员的后期参与而得到促进。第三个任务是将解复用器与控制硬件/软件组装在一起，并将先进的数字信号处理能力添加到现有工作站中，以支持从256个通道或更多通道中进行尖峰排序。所有这三个任务将并行完成，以增量方式向现有的可用系统添加功能。在过去十年中，NSF和其他地方支持的初步进展使这个复杂的综合项目变得更加可行。这个项目旨在结束私家侦探和他的同事长达十年的开发努力。目的是创建和展示潜在的大规模神经元集合记录，用于解码分布神经元活动模式中的信息。多元统计方法已被应用于处理新数据采集方法产生的大量数据。该小组和其他人最近发表的关于多通道记录的出版物为多通道记录和分析仪器的进一步发展创造了热情和动力。这种能力的进步对于生理神经元网络研究中概念问题研究的基本范式转变至关重要。

The overall goal of this instrument development for Systems Neurophysiology is to create functional devices to enable recording from very large ensembles of neuronal spike trains in behaving animals. The plan is to develop and integrate three tasks to be done in parallel. First, a new fabrication process will be employed to create thin film silicon recording probes, each with sixteen sites. The probe shapes and surface recording site properties will be optimized for long-term chronic recording to match the effectiveness of microwire arrays previously perfected by the P.I. Different spacing and sizes of surface recording sites will be patterned on the probe and different recording surfaces will be tested. A novel technology for fabrication of flexible microcables and multichip modules will be adapted to lead signals from the recording probes to external signal processing electronics. A second task is to create a design for a VLSI microchip to detect and amplify- signals from 16 channels. and multiplex signals to a single output lead. The chip will also provide switches with control to apply test/stimulation to a selected input. Later goals will be to produce a multisite probe with integrated active electronics and to create multiple probe assemblies. The processes to be developed are exceptionally favorable for commercial production methods. A low-cost, high-volume commercial product will be facilited through later participation of the staff at the Microelectronic Center of North Carolina (MCNC), Research Triangle, NC. A third task is to assemble a demultiplexer with control hardware/software and an advanced digital signal processing capability will be added to an existing workstation to support spike sorting from 256 channels or more. All three tasks will be done in parallel to incrementally add function to an existing, usable system. This complex, integrated project is made more feasib le by preliminary advances supported by NSF and elsewhere over past decade. This project aims to bring closur,9/to a decade-long development effort of the P.I. and his associates. The aim was to create and demonstrate the potential large scale neuron ensemble recording for decoding of information in patterns within distributed neuronal activity. Multivariate statistical methods have been applied to process the large volumes of data yielded by the new data acquisition methods. Recent publications by this group and others on multichannel recordings have created enthusiasm and momentum toward further advances in multichannel recording and analysis instrumentation. Advances in this capability are critical to enable a basic paradigm shift in the study of conceptual issues in the study of physiological neuronal networks.