- Title
- Recording Network Activity in Spinal Nociceptive Circuits using Microelectrode Arrays
- Creator
- Iredale, Jacqueline A.; Stoddard, Jeremy G.; Drury, Hannah R.; Browne, Tyler J.; Elton, Augustus; Madden, Jessica F.; Callister, Robert J.; Welsh, James S.; Graham, Brett A.
- Relation
- NHMRC.1043933 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1043933 & 1144638 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1144638 & 631000 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/631000
- Relation
- Journal of Visualized Experiments Vol. 2022, Issue 180, no. e62920
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/62920
- Publisher
- Journal of Visualized Experiments
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- The roles and connectivity of specific types of neurons within the spinal cord dorsal horn (DH) are being delineated at a rapid rate to provide an increasingly detailed view of the circuits underpinning spinal pain processing. However, the effects of these connections for broader network activity in the DH remain less well understood because most studies focus on the activity of single neurons and small microcircuits. Alternatively, the use of microelectrode arrays (MEAs), which can monitor electrical activity across many cells, provides high spatial and temporal resolution of neural activity. Here, the use of MEAs with mouse spinal cord slices to study DH activity induced by chemically stimulating DH circuits with 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) is described. The resulting rhythmic activity is restricted to the superficial DH, stable over time, blocked by tetrodotoxin, and can be investigated in different slice orientations. Together, this preparation provides a platform to investigate DH circuit activity in tissue from naïve animals, animal models of chronic pain, and mice with genetically altered nociceptive function. Furthermore, MEA recordings in 4-AP-stimulated spinal cord slices can be used as a rapid screening tool to assess the capacity of novel antinociceptive compounds to disrupt activity in the spinal cord DH.
- Subject
- spinal cord; microelectrode; spinal cord dorsal horn; neural activity
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1464495
- Identifier
- uon:47016
- Identifier
- ISSN:1940-087X
- Language
- eng
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