Authors: Heiney K, Ramstad OH, Fiskum V, Sandvig A, Sandvig I, Nichele S
Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 2022.
Researchers use Axion’s Maestro MEA to explore neural network activity in vitro in real time over 50 days.
Neural information processing is not fully understood, but a new approach that combines functional connectivity with avalanche dynamics may provide new insights. In this study, scientists use Axion’s noninvasive Maestro Pro multielectrode array (MEA) platform to evaluate functional connectivity properties of neural networks and explore how density affects network dynamics over a period of 50 days in vitro. Findings from MEA and computational methods demonstrate the advantages of using the two approaches to study information propagation in neurons in vitro, which the authors suggest “lay a foundation upon which we can build a deeper understanding of how the topological features of the functional connectivity of neuronal networks in vitro relate to the emergence of different dynamical regimes, as well as how self-organized dynamics and structure relate to neural computation.”
