What is a microelectrode array (MEA)?
Microelectrode arrays (MEA), also known as multielectrode arrays, contain a grid of tightly spaced electrodes embedded in the culture surface of the well. Electrically active cells, such as cardiomyocytes, are cultured on top of the electrodes. When neurons fire action potentials, the electrodes measure the extracellular voltage on a microsecond timescale. As the cells attach and connect with one another, an MEA can simultaneously sample from many locations across the culture to detect propagation and synchronization of cardiac activity across the syncytium.
That’s it, an electrode and your cells. No dyes, no incubation steps, no perfusion, no positioning things just-so; just your cells in a well. Because the electrodes are extracellular (they do not poke into the cells), the recording is noninvasive and does not alter the behavior of the cells, you can measure the activity of your culture for seconds or even months!
An MEA of 64 electrodes embedded in the substate at the bottom of a well.
Cardiomyocytes attach to the array and form a network. The microelectrodes detect the action potentials fired as well as their propagation across the network.
Heartbeats in a dish
When cardiomyocytes are cultured on top of an MEA, they attach and connect to form a spontaneously beating sheet of cells, called a syncytium. When one cardiomyocyte fires an action potential, the electrical activity propagates across the syncytium causing each cell to fire and then contract. The electrodes detect each individual action potential and contraction, as well as the propagation of this activity across the array.
The propagating electrical signal is detected by the electrodes as an extracellular field potential. The field potential derives from the underlying cardiac action potential, but more closely resembles a clinical electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. The initial depolarization phase is seen as a sharp spike, similar to the QRS complex, and the slow repolarization is seen as a small slow spike, like a T-wave. The time from the depolarization to repolarization is termed the field potential duration (FPD) and is a key metric in predictive cardiotoxicity screening assays.
While most record the cardiac field potential, the Maestro Pro and Edge MEA systems can also measure local extracellular action potentials, or LEAP. LEAP induction increases the coupling between the microelectrodes and the cardiomyocytes, transforming the extracellular signal from a field potential to an action potential. LEAP provides additional and complementary metrics such as rise time, action potential duration (APD), triangulation, and automated early after depolarization (EAD) detection.
The cardiac action potential propagates from cell to cell across the syncytium. The MEA detects this activity as an extracellular field potential, which closely resembles the clinical ECG.
Do more with multiwell
Axion BioSystems offers multiwell plates at many throughputs, from 6-wells to 96-wells, with an MEA embedded in the bottom of each well. Each well represents its own unique cell culture and conditions, creating up to 96 experiments on one plate. Multiwell MEA allows you to study complex human biology in a dish, from a single cell firing to network activity, across many conditions and cell types at once.
