Subchronic in Vivo Human Microelectrode Recording

Progress in neurosurgical procedures and equipment, such as the adaptation of clinical intracerebral electrodes with microelectrodes combined with multi-channel wide bandwidth recording systems, has yielded data with exceptional temporal and spatial resolution used to study single neuron properties of epilepsy and human behavior. Obtaining high fidelity single neuron recordings, however, is demanding and must conform to ethical and safety standards associated with human subject studies. In this context, electrode materials and design, and components of the data acquisition system including headstages, cabling, signal conditioning and analog-to-digital conversion require careful consideration in order to reliably acquire neuronal signals. Here, electrodes and the equipment used to record neuronal activity will be discussed.