The application of printed circuit board technology for fabrication of multi-channel micro-drives

doi:10.1016/S0165-0270(00)00362-9

Journal of Neuroscience Methods

Volume 105, Issue 1, 30 January 2001, Pages 105-110

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0270(00)00362-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

A modular multichannel microdrive (‘hyperdrive’) is described. The microdrive uses printed circuit board technology and flexible fused silica capillaries. The modular design allows for the fabrication of 4–32 independently movable electrodes or ‘tetrodes’. The drives are re-usable and re-loading the drive with electrodes is simple.

Introduction

Although it has been known for quite some time that information is embedded in the complex discharge patterns of neuronal ensembles, experimental approach to multisite, multiple single neuron recording technology is quite recent. With the introduction of ‘tetrode’ recording and cluster cutting methods (Recce and O'Keefe, 1989, Buzsáki et al., 1992, Wilson and McNaughton, 1993, Wilson and McNaughton, 1994, Gray et al., 1995, Csicsvari et al., 1998) and the availability of miniature, direct multisite neuronal probing it is increasingly accessible for the neuroscientists to study neural interactions in relation to behavior (Wilson and McNaughton, 1994, O'Keefe and Burgess, 1996, Czurkó et al., 1999, Csicsvari et al., 1999, Eichenbaum et al., 1999, Nicolelis et al., 1997, Hampson et al., 1999). Fabrication of microdrives typically requires sophisticated machinery and skills. Although drives are also available commercially (David Kopf Instruments, Tujunga, CA; Alpha Omega Engineering, Nazareth Illite, Israel), they are quite costly and they lack the flexibility often needed for various experimental designs.

Here we describe the application of printed circuit board (PCB) technology for the fabrication of multi-channel micro-drives. The new design method results in solid, low cost, sufficiently small and importantly, light weight micro-drives for extracellular single-unit, or multiunit tetrode recordings.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The drive is fabricated from PCB modular elements, brass screws and nuts, brass spacers, and silica tubes. Fig. 1 shows a close-up view of one of the drives. A #00–90′′ Brass Round Head Screw (J.I. Morris Co., Southbridge, MA) is held by 2 PCBs (boards 2 and 3). The distance of the individual PCBs is determined by the length of the brass spacers (3M Board Mount Interconnect Products; DigiKey Corp., MN). Both short (0.545′′) and long (1.245′′) spacers are used. The length of the spacers and

Discussion

We described the fabrication of a simple, flexible, modular microdrive for multiple site recordings of extracellular unit activity in small animals. A special effort was made to reduce the size and weight of the drive so that they can be used for small animals such as rats and mice. Multiple drives can be placed close to each other in larger animals.

Several previous microdrives have been described earlier (Ainsworth and O'Keefe, 1977, Eichenbaum et al., 1977, Reitboeck, 1983, Kubie, 1984,

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These methods improve upon the static, irreversible implants by retaining varying degrees of control over the positioning of the probes. Some methods enable position control for each individual probe (Wilson and McNaughton, 1993; deCharms et al., 1999; Venkatachalam et al., 1999; Erickson and Desimone, 1999; Vos et al., 1999; Fee and Leonardo, 2001; Szabó et al., 2001; Swadlow et al., 2005; Tolias et al., 2007; Eliades and Wang, 2008; Battaglia et al., 2009; Kloosterman et al., 2009; Nguyen et al., 2009), while others employ single or multiple devices to position arrays of electrodes together (Csicsvari et al., 2003; Krupa et al., 2004; Schwarz et al., 2014; Mendoza et al., 2016). Both approaches have been effective, but in general, most of the microdrives have been designed to manipulate a relatively small number of closely spaced probes.
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In the latest case, the tetrodes are mounted on a drive attached to the skull. A number of drive designs for adjustable multi-electrode recordings are available in the literature (Jog et al., 2002; Kloosterman et al., 2009; Krüger, 1983; Szabó et al., 2001; Wilson and McNaughton, 1993). Quartz electrodes have a larger diameter than wire tetrodes, but we found that they may be mounted in similarly-designed drives and they allow stable recordings over single sessions.
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The application of printed circuit board technology for fabrication of multi-channel micro-drives

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Discussion

Neuron.

Physiol. Behav.

Neuron

J. Neurosci. Methods

J. Neurosci. Meth.

Physiol. Behav.

J. Neurosci. Meth.

Neuron

Lightweight microdrive for the simultaneous recording of several units in the awake, freely moving rat

J. Physiol. (Lond.)