Abstract
We have recently developed a new type of multi-microelectrode system, with which electrical neural activities of adjacent neurons can be simultaneously recorded. To date, we have reported on the architecture and fabrication techniques of this multi-microelectrode system.
In order to synthetically evaluate the characteristics of this multi-microelectrode system and then to clarify its practical availability, this paper deals with the following aspects : (1) electrochemical properties of, Pt-Co alloy used as the microelectrode material; (2) mechanical and electrical properties accompanied with magnetic coupling of each microelectrode; (3) measurement of magnetic field distribution in the vicinity of a fine Pt-Co alloy microelectrode tip; (4) application of a silver sulfide method for high sensitive identification of the locations of multi-microelectrodes in the brain; (5) simultaneous recording of the impulse trains of four adjacent neurons within the columnar neural area of 0.5mm∅×0.2mm in the brain.
