In vitro homogeneous and heterogeneous interconnected neuronal cultures: Exploring expressed dynamics and functional connectivity

We present a dual-chamber co-culturing device that permits investigations on network electrophysiology and functional connectivity. In this work, we characterized the dynamics and functional connectivity of interconnected homogeneous and heterogeneous cultures to demonstrate usefulness of this approach. Segregating two neuronal populations while simultaneously guaranteeing certain degree in controlling interconnectivity was achieved by means of a dual compartment neuro-fluidic device made of poly-dimethyl-siloxane (PDMS), which was coupled to a micro-electrode array (MEA). The device has two compartments separated by 10-μm-wide and 3-μm-high micro-channels. Such micro-channels provide a physical isolation of neurons allowing only neurites to grow between the compartments and thus to form functional links.