CMOS nanoelectrode array for all-electrical intracellular electrophysiological imaging

Nat Nanotechnol. 2017 May;12(5):460-466. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2017.3. Epub 2017 Feb 13.

Abstract

Developing a new tool capable of high-precision electrophysiological recording of a large network of electrogenic cells has long been an outstanding challenge in neurobiology and cardiology. Here, we combine nanoscale intracellular electrodes with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits to realize a high-fidelity all-electrical electrophysiological imager for parallel intracellular recording at the network level. Our CMOS nanoelectrode array has 1,024 recording/stimulation 'pixels' equipped with vertical nanoelectrodes, and can simultaneously record intracellular membrane potentials from hundreds of connected in vitro neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes. We demonstrate that this network-level intracellular recording capability can be used to examine the effect of pharmaceuticals on the delicate dynamics of a cardiomyocyte network, thus opening up new opportunities in tissue-based pharmacological screening for cardiac and neuronal diseases as well as fundamental studies of electrogenic cells and their networks.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Diagnostic Imaging*
  • Electrodes
  • Heart Diseases / metabolism*
  • Heart Diseases / pathology
  • Heart Diseases / physiopathology
  • Heart Ventricles / metabolism*
  • Heart Ventricles / pathology
  • Membrane Potentials*
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / metabolism*
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / pathology
  • Rats