Press Releases | July 12, 2023

Development of electrocorticography device for simultaneous detection of multi-modality information in mouse brain

Associate Professor Hiroto Sekiguchi (Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology) and Assistant Professor Susumu Setogawa and Associate Professor Noriaki Ohkawa (Comprehensive Research Facilities for Advanced Medical Science, Dokkyo Medical University; Assistant Professor Setogawa is currently a Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at University Public Corporation Osaka) have developed a flexible electrocorticography (Note 1) film for simultaneous detection of multisensory information (Note 2) from multiple regions of the cerebral cortex by placing neural electrodes over a wide area of a mouse brain surface.

Researchers believe that the human brain achieves cognitive functions such as attention, learning, and memory through the simultaneous processing and integration of various sensory information across multiple regions of the cortex. In order to understand the neural information processing mechanisms underlying these cognitive functions, researchers required a device capable of simultaneous recording neural activity from a wide area of the cerebral cortex, including the temporal region responsible for processing diverse sensory information in rodents such as mice and rats. However, the placement of such a device posed challenges due to the obstruction of the temporal region in a rodent's head caused by the skull and surrounding temporal muscles.

Therefore, in order to successfully position an electrocorticogram recording device in the temporal and deep regions of the cerebral cortex of mice, it was crucial to develop a device and establish a technique which allows recording electrodes to be placed in the narrow gap between the skull and the surface of the cerebral cortex. Our research group achieved two significant advancements, (1) development of a cortical electrocorticography device composed of an appropriate film that exhibits both flexibility and rigidity for attached to the brain, and (2) establishment of a surgical technique for effectively attaching the device to the temporal region of the brain. As a result, these advancements allow to successfully detect neural activity in the cerebral cortex that was evoked by somatosensory and olfactory stimuli. This novel electrocorticography device has achieved a wider range of neural activity measurements compared to existing techniques. Moving forward, the method is anticipated to contribute to advancing research on large-scale electrocorticography, facilitating a better understanding of the functional interaction among different brain regions and their mechanism.

The results of this research were published online in the scientific journal Molecular Brain on May 3, 2023. This research was performed through support from Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Strategic Basic Research Promotion Project PRESTO (JPMJPR1885)), the Casio Science Promotion Foundation, the Toyoaki Scholarship Foundation, the Foundation of Public Interest of Tatematsu, the Research Foundation for Opto-Science and Technology, the Takeda Science Foundation, the Naito Foundation, the Astellas Foundation for Research on Metabolic Disorders, and the Tochigi Industrial Promotion Center (the Grant-in-Aid for World-Class Technological Research and Development).

Full text: Multisensory information detection by using multi-channel electrocorticography film that can place over a wide area of the cerebral cortex
TUT website: Press release