Thesis advisor: Michael J. Naughton / Thesis advisor: Michael J. Burns / Recent progress in the study of the brain has been greatly facilitated by the development of new measurement tools capable of minimally-invasive, robust coupling to neuronal assemblies. Two prominent examples are the microelectrode array, which enables electrical signals from large numbers of neurons to be detected and spatiotemporally correlated, and optogenetics, which enables the electrical activity of cells to be controlled with light. In the former case, high spatial density is desirable but, as electrode arrays evolve toward higher density and thus smaller pitch, electrical crosstalk increases. In the latter, finer control over light input is desirable, to enable improved studies of neuroelectronic pathways emanating from specific cell stimulation. Herein, we introduce a coaxial electrode architecture that is uniquely suited to address these issues, as it can simultaneously be utilized as an optical waveguide and a shielded electrode in dense arrays. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is an area of the brain that is critically important for learning, memory, organization, and integration, and PFC dysfunction has been associated with pathologies including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and drug addiction. However, there exists a paucity of information regarding neurochemical signaling in the distinct sub-regions of the PFC, particularly the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The mPFC receives glutamatergic input from a number of brain areas, and functional glutamate signaling is essential for normal cognitive processes. To further understand glutamate neurotransmission, in vivo measurements of glutamate were performed in the cingulate cortex, prelimbic cortex, and infralimbic cortex of anesthetized rats using enzyme-based microelectrode array technology. Measurements of acetylcholine were also performed to examine the relationship between glutamate and other neurotransmitters in the mPFC. The described studies revealed a homogeneity of glutamate and acetylcholine signaling in the mPFC sub-regions, indicating somewhat uniform tonic and phasic levels of these two transmitters. In the infralimbic mPFC of awake freely-moving rats, rapid, phasic glutamate signaling events, termed “transients” were observed and in vivo glutamate signaling was successfully monitored over 24 hour time periods. The effects of methylphenidate (MPH), a stimulant medication with abuse potential that is used in the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, were measured in mPFC sub-regions of anesthetized rats. Data revealed similar tonic and phasic glutamate levels between chronic MPH-treated rats and controls in all sub-regions. Locomotor data from the chronic treatment period supported the behavioral sensitization effects of multiple MPH treatments. Significant effects were observed in locomotor activity, resting levels of glutamate, and glutamate uptake rates in the infralimbic mPFC of awake, freely-moving animals that received chronic MPH treatment. Taken together, this body of work characterizes glutamate signaling in the rat mPFC to a degree never before reported, and serves to report for the first time the effects of MPH on glutamate signaling in the mPFC.

abstract: Gene manipulation techniques, such as RNA interference (RNAi), offer a powerful method for elucidating gene function and discovery of novel therapeutic targets in a high-throughput fashion. In addition, RNAi is rapidly being adopted for treatment of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, etc. However, a major challenge in both of the aforementioned applications is the efficient delivery of siRNA molecules, plasmids or transcription factors to primary cells such as neurons. A majority of the current non-viral techniques, including chemical transfection, bulk electroporation and sonoporation fail to deliver with adequate efficiencies and the required spatial and temporal control. In this study, a novel optically transparent biochip is presented that can (a) transfect populations of primary and secondary cells in 2D culture (b) readily scale to realize high-throughput transfections using microscale electroporation and (c) transfect targeted cells in culture with spatial and temporal control. In this study, delivery of genetic payloads of different sizes and molecular characteristics, such as GFP plasmids and siRNA molecules, to precisely targeted locations in primary hippocampal and HeLa cell cultures is demonstrated. In addition to spatio-temporally controlled transfection, the biochip also allowed simultaneous assessment of a) electrical activity of neurons, b) specific proteins using fluorescent immunohistochemistry, and c) sub-cellular structures. Functional silencing of GAPDH in HeLa cells using siRNA demonstrated a 52% reduction in the GAPDH levels. In situ assessment of actin filaments post electroporation indicated a sustained disruption in actin filaments in electroporated cells for up to two hours. Assessment of neural spike activity pre- and post-electroporation indicated a varying response to electroporation. The microarray based nature of the biochip enables multiple independent experiments on the same culture, thereby decreasing culture-to-culture variability, increasing experimental throughput and allowing cell-cell interaction studies. Further development of this technology will provide a cost-effective platform for performing high-throughput genetic screens. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Bioengineering 2012

Alkanethiols spontaneously assembles from solution or vapour on oxide free metal surfaces resulting in a close-packed molecular stuctures with a high degree of orientation and molecular order. In this study, inkjet printing technique is used to immobilize monolayers of alkanethiols on gold electrodes. The quality of the inkjetted monolayers are analyzed by electrochemical methods, i.e. cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and by Polarization Modulation Infrared Reflection-Absorption Spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) which show a similar molecular quality to those produced by immersion technique, the standard technique. The kinetic and mass transfer behaviours of micro-scale structures of inkjetted monolayers, e.g. bands and dots array electrodes, are explored by electrochemical methods. The microscale inkjetted structures of monolayers are of interest in the fields of microelectronic devices (e.g. chemical and biosensors) and optoelectronic devices. Taking benefits from multichannel existing in the printhead, mixtures of SAMs are demonstrated. Mixing of monolayers differing in functional groups provides a model surface to study interface phenomena at molecular level such as ion permeation, selective chemical binding, and electron transfer kinetic.

yes / Monolayers of neurons and glia have been employed for decades as tools for the study of cellular physiology and as the basis for a variety of standard toxicological assays. A variety of three dimensional (3D) culture techniques have been developed with the aim to produce cultures that recapitulate desirable features of intact. In this study, we investigated the effect of preparing primary mouse mixed neuron and glial cultures in the inert 3D scaffold, Alvetex. Using planar multielectrode arrays, we compared the spontaneous bioelectrical activity exhibited by neuroglial networks grown in the scaffold with that seen in the same cells prepared as conventional monolayer cultures. Two dimensional (monolayer; 2D) cultures exhibited a significantly higher spike firing rate than that seen in 3D cultures although no difference was seen in total signal power (<50 Hz) while pharmacological responsiveness of each culture type to antagonism of GABAAR, NMDAR and AMPAR was highly comparable. Interestingly, correlation of burst events, spike firing and total signal power (<50 Hz) revealed that local field potential events were associated with action potential driven bursts as was the case for 2D cultures. Moreover, glial morphology was more physiologically normal in 3D cultures. These results show that 3D culture in inert scaffolds represents a more physiologically normal preparation which has advantages for physiological, pharmacological, toxicological and drug development studies, particularly given the extensive use of such preparations in high throughput and high content systems.

No description available.

Murine neuronal networks, derived from embryonic frontal cortex (FC) tissue grown on microelectrode arrays, were used to investigate zinc toxicity at concentrations ranging from 20 to 2000 mM total zinc acetate added to the culture medium. Continual multi-channel recording of spontaneous action potential generation allowed a quantitative analysis of the temporal evolution of network spike activity generation at specific zinc acetate concentrations. Cultures responded with immediate concentration-dependent excitation lasting from 5 to 50 min, consisting of increased spiking and enhanced, coordinated bursting. This was followed by irreversible activity decay. The time to 50% and 90% activity loss was concentration dependent, highly reproducible, and formed linear functions in log-log plots. Network activity loss generally preceded morphological changes. 20% cell swelling was correlated with 50% activity loss. Cultures pretreated with the GABAA receptor antagonists bicuculline (40 mM) and picrotoxin (1 mM) lacked the initial excitation phase. This suggests that zinc-induced excitation may be mediated by interfering with GABA inhibition. Partial network protection was achieved by stopping spontaneous activity with either tetrodotoxin (200 nM) or lidocaine (250 mM). However, recovery was not complete and slow deterioration of network activity continued over 6 hrs. Removal of zinc by early medium changes showed irreversible, catastrophic network failure to develop in a concentration-dependent time window between 50% and 90% activity loss. Investigation of entry routes suggested the L-type but not N-type calcium channels to be the main entry pathway for zinc. Data are presented implicating the chloride channel to be an additional entry route.

With increasing amounts of data being collected in various fields of neuroscience, there is a growing need for robust techniques for the analysis of this information. This thesis focuses on the evaluation and development of quantitative frameworks for the analysis and classification of neuronal data from a variety of contexts. Firstly, I investigate methods for analysing spontaneous neuronal network activity recorded on microelectrode arrays (MEAs). I perform an unbiased evaluation of the existing techniques for detecting ‘bursts’ of neuronal activity in these types of recordings, and provide recommendations for the robust analysis of bursting activity in a range of contexts using both existing and adapted burst detection methods. These techniques are then used to analyse bursting activity in novel recordings of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neuronal networks. Results from this review of burst analysis methods are then used to inform the development of a framework for characterising the activity of neuronal networks recorded on MEAs, using properties of bursting as well as other common features of spontaneous activity. Using this framework, I examine the ontogeny of spontaneous network activity in in vitro neuronal networks from various brain regions, recorded on both single and multi-well MEAs. I also develop a framework for classifying these recordings according to their network type, based on quantitative features of their activity patterns. Next, I take a multi-view approach to classifying neuronal cell types using both the morphological and electrophysiological features of cells. I show that a number of multi-view clustering algorithms can more reliably differentiate between neuronal cell types in two existing data sets, compared to single-view clustering techniques applied to either the morphological or electrophysiological ‘view’ of the data, or a concatenation of the two views. To close, I examine the properties of the cell types identified by these methods.

abstract: Intracellular voltage recordings from single neurons in vitro and in vivo have been fundamental to our understanding of neuronal function. Conventional electrodes and associated positioning systems for intracellular recording in vivo are large and bulky, which has largely restricted their use to single-channel recording from anesthetized animals. Further, intracellular recordings are very cumbersome, requiring a high degree of skill not readily achieved in a typical laboratory. This dissertation presents a robotic, head-mountable, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) based intracellular recording system to overcome the above limitations associated with form-factor, scalability and highly skilled and tedious manual operations required for intracellular recordings. This system combines three distinct technologies: 1) novel microscale, polycrystalline silicon-based electrode for intracellular recording, 2) electrothermal microactuators for precise microscale navigation of the electrode and 3) closed-loop control algorithm for autonomous movement and positioning of electrode inside single neurons. First, two distinct designs of polysilicon-based microscale electrodes were fabricated and tested for intracellular recordings. In the first approach, tips of polysilicon microelectrodes were milled to nanoscale dimensions (<300 nm) using focused ion beam (FIB) to develop polysilicon nanoelectrodes. Polysilicon nanoelectrodes recorded >1.5 mV amplitude, positive-going action potentials and synaptic potentials from neurons in the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia Californica. In the second approach, polysilicon microelectrodes were integrated with miniaturized glass micropipettes filled with electrolyte to fabricate glass-polysilicon microelectrodes. These electrodes consistently recorded high fidelity intracellular potentials from neurons in the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia Californica (Resting Potentials < -35 mV, Action Potentials > 60 mV) as well as the rat motor cortex (Resting Potentials < -50 mV). Next, glass-polysilicon microelectrodes were coupled with microscale electrothermal actuators and controller for autonomous intracellular recordings from single neurons in the abdominal ganglion. Consistent resting potentials (< -35 mV) and action potentials (> 60 mV) were recorded after each successful penetration attempt with the controller and microactuated glass-polysilicon microelectrodes. The success rate of penetration and quality of recordings achieved using electrothermal microactuators were comparable to that of conventional positioning systems. Finally, the feasibility of this miniaturized system to obtain intracellular recordings from single neurons in the motor cortex of rats in vivo is also demonstrated. The MEMS-based system offers significant advantages: 1) reduction in overall size for potential use in behaving animals, 2) scalable approach to potentially realize multi-channel recordings and 3) a viable method to fully automate measurement of intracellular recordings. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biomedical Engineering 2018

abstract: A direct Magnetic Resonance (MR)-based neural activity mapping technique with high spatial and temporal resolution may accelerate studies of brain functional organization. The most widely used technique for brain functional imaging is functional Magnetic Resonance Image (fMRI). The spatial resolution of fMRI is high. However, fMRI signals are highly influenced by the vasculature in each voxel and can be affected by capillary orientation and vessel size. Functional MRI analysis may, therefore, produce misleading results when voxels are nearby large vessels. Another problem in fMRI is that hemodynamic responses are slower than the neuronal activity. Therefore, temporal resolution is limited in fMRI. Furthermore, the correlation between neural activity and the hemodynamic response is not fully understood. fMRI can only be considered an indirect method of functional brain imaging. Another MR-based method of functional brain mapping is neuronal current magnetic resonance imaging (ncMRI), which has been studied over several years. However, the amplitude of these neuronal current signals is an order of magnitude smaller than the physiological noise. Works on ncMRI include simulation, phantom experiments, and studies in tissue including isolated ganglia, optic nerves, and human brains. However, ncMRI development has been hampered due to the extremely small signal amplitude, as well as the presence of confounding signals from hemodynamic changes and other physiological noise. Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT) methods could have the potential for the detection of neuronal activity. In this technique, small external currents are applied to a body during MR scans. This current flow produces a magnetic field as well as an electric field. The altered magnetic flux density along the main magnetic field direction caused by this current flow can be obtained from phase images. When there is neural activity, the conductivity of the neural cell membrane changes and the current paths around the neurons change consequently. Neural spiking activity during external current injection, therefore, causes differential phase accumulation in MR data. Statistical analysis methods can be used to identify neuronal-current-induced magnetic field changes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biomedical Engineering 2019