Assembly of neural cell-laden microplates on a microfabricated breadboard

This paper describes a method to form an arbitrary network of neural cell-laden microplates on a breadboard-like microelectrode array (MEA) for neural network studies. We cultured single neural cells on microplates with control of their morphologies, and mounted the plates on the breadboard-like MEA. Through a pore in the center of the microplate, the cells and gold electrodes patterned on the MEA would be electrically accessible. The device allows arrangement of morphological connectivity at single cell resolution with interfaced to single electrodes. Thus, the method will be adaptable to bottom-up neuronal circuit construction and electrical analysis of synaptic integrating mechanism.