抄録
As means of stimulating the neuron and measuring the action potential, intracellular methods with micro-pipette are ordinarily used in the field of neurophysiology. Having many merits, the intracellular methods are not suitable for a long-term experiment due to damage to membranes. Moreovere, for the case of intracellular method the multisite stimulation and measurement is difficult from the point of access to the neuron and its invasiveness. In this study, we investigate the extracellular neural stimulation system with arrayed microelectrodes for the purpose of studying the process of organizing neural networks and signal processing by neural cells. Using the microelectrode array of the size of cells formed on the substrate, the action potential of cultured neuron was recorded. The experimental results showed the feasibility of the extracellular stimulation electrodes. The patterns and position of electrodes, furthermore, for appropriate stimulation were examined by simulating the distribution of the current around the ax on model for the various cases. The results offerred some points for design of optimal electrodes.
