The success of long-term electrophysiological recordings often depends on the quality of the implantation surgery. Here we provide useful information for surgeons who are learning the process of implanting electrode systems. We demonstrate the implantation procedure of both a penetrating and a surface electrode. The surgical process is described from start to finish, including detailed descr...

RECENT SINGLE-UNIT recording studies of the alert rhesus monkey superior colliculus have disclosed that the deeper layers of this structure contain cells which discharge in association with eye movement (15-17, 23, 24). Such units fire selectively prior to saccades of a specific direction and size, irrespective of the position of the eye in orbit. Stimulation studies of the superior colliculus ...

For recording the activity of single neurons in unanesthetized animals two techniques can be used: permanently implanted microwires (7) or movable microelectrodes (1, 2, 4-6, 8). The latter method permits to make a selection of cells in the course of the experiment. However, cells cannot be kept for a long time and are easily lost during violent head movements. Besides, successive penetrations ...

The glycogen-depletion technique has become a well-established method for determining histologically the cross-sectional distribution of a single muscle unit. A major drawback of this method is its low yield of one depleted unit per experiment. Furthermore, this technique is particularly unsuited for determining the longitudinal distribution of single muscle units in long, broad muscles because...

A method is described by which a single shaft multiwire microelectrode can be fabricated efficiently. The resulting electrode can be attached to a commercial microdrive and used for single neuronal unit recording from one or more tracks in deep brain structures of anesthetized or awake animals. The electrode consists of a 30 gauge stainless steel cannula through which multiple strands of 13 mic...

The long-term reliability of neural interfaces and stability of high-quality recordings are still unsolved issues in neuroscience research. High surface area PEDOT-PSS-CNT composites are able to greatly improve the performance of recording and stimulation for traditional intracortical metal microelectrodes by decreasing their impedance and increasing their charge transfer capability. This enhan...

The ability to record well-isolated action potentials from individual neurons in naturally behaving animals is crucial for understanding neural mechanisms underlying natural behaviors. Traditional neurophysiology techniques, however, require the animal to be restrained which often restricts natural behavior. An example is the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a highly vocal New World primat...

Microelectrodes have been very instrumental and minimally invasive for in vivo functional studies from deep brain structures. However they are limited in the amount of information they provide. Here, we describe a, aluminum-coated, fibre optic-based glass microprobe with multiple electrical and optical detection capabilities while retaining tip dimensions that enable single cell measurements (d...