TY  - JOUR
AU  - Zhu, Geng
AU  - Du, Liping
AU  - Jin, Lei
AU  - Offenhäusser, Andreas
TI  - Effects of Morphology Constraint on Electrophysiological Properties of Cortical Neurons
JO  - Scientific reports
VL  - 6
SN  - 2045-2322
CY  - London
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
M1  - FZJ-2016-04730
SP  - 23086
PY  - 2016
AB  - There is growing interest in engineering nerve cells in vitro to control architecture and connectivity of cultured neuronal networks or to build neuronal networks with predictable computational function. Pattern technologies, such as micro-contact printing, have been developed to design ordered neuronal networks. However, electrophysiological characteristics of the single patterned neuron haven’t been reported. Here, micro-contact printing, using polyolefine polymer (POP) stamps with high resolution, was employed to grow cortical neurons in a designed structure. The results demonstrated that the morphology of patterned neurons was well constrained, and the number of dendrites was decreased to be about 2. Our electrophysiological results showed that alterations of dendritic morphology affected firing patterns of neurons and neural excitability. When stimulated by current, though both patterned and un-patterned neurons presented regular spiking, the dynamics and strength of the response were different. The un-patterned neurons exhibited a monotonically increasing firing frequency in response to injected current, while the patterned neurons first exhibited frequency increase and then a slow decrease. Our findings indicate that the decrease in dendritic complexity of cortical neurons will influence their electrophysiological characteristics and alter their information processing activity, which could be considered when designing neuronal circuitries.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000373566700001
DO  - DOI:10.1038/srep23086
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/818252
ER  -