Research Group Dihné

Neuronal network activity can be assessed by the microelectrode array (MEA) technology that allows simultaneous recording of the electrical activity exhibited by entire populations of neurons over several weeks or months in vitro. We demonstrated that ES cell-derived neural precursors cultured on MEAs for 5 to 6 weeks develop functional neuronal networks with oscillating and synchronous spike/burst patterns via distinct states of activity and towards late maturational processes. These processes were accompanied by an increasing density of presynaptic vesicles. Furthermore, we demonstrated that ES cell-derived network activity was sensitive to synaptically acting drugs indicating that pharmacologically susceptible neuronal networks were generated. Thus, the MEA technology represents a powerful tool to describe the temporal progression of stem cell-derived neural populations towards mature, functioning neuronal networks that can also be applied to investigate pharmacologically active compounds.

Actually, we are generating human functional neuronal networks change electrophysiological characteristics even after 5 to 6 weeks in culture pointing from native human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.

Primary and secondary inflammatory processes are playing a role in nearly all brain pathologies. As endogenous neural stem cells supply the brain throughout life with new functional cells, it is interesting to verify the effect of inflammatory processes that include e.g. the up-regulation of cytokines on neural stem cells

The impact of epilepsy-associated mutation in genes encoding for ion channels on neuronal network activity is currently under investigation.