An approach for long-term, multi-probe Neuropixels recordings in unrestrained rats

Abstract

The use of Neuropixels probes for chronic neural recordings is in its infancy and initial studies leave questions about long-term stability and probe reusability unaddressed. Here we demonstrate a new approach for chronic Neuropixels recordings over a period of months in freely moving rats. Our approach allows multiple probes per rat and multiple cycles of probe reuse. We found that hundreds of units could be recorded for multiple months, but that yields depended systematically on anatomical position. Explanted probes displayed a small increase in noise compared to unimplanted probes, but this was insufficient to impair future single-unit recordings. We conclude that cost-effective, multi-region, and multi-probe Neuropixels recordings can be carried out with high yields over multiple months in rats or other similarly sized animals. Our methods and observations may facilitate the standardization of chronic recording from Neuropixels probes in freely moving animals.

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study can be found at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m63xsj3zw. All code used in preparation of this article can be found at https://github.com/Brody-Lab/chronic_neuropixels.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Thomas Zhihao Luo

    Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    For correspondence
    thomas.zhihao.luo@gmail.com
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7774-1697
  2. Adrian Gopnik Bondy

    Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    For correspondence
    adrian.bondy@gmail.com
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7265-5810
  3. Diksha Gupta

    Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8811-3311
  4. Verity Alexander Elliott

    Neuroscience, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Charles D Kopec

    Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Carlos D Brody

    Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4201-561X

Funding

National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH108358)

  • Thomas Zhihao Luo
  • Adrian Gopnik Bondy
  • Diksha Gupta
  • Verity Alexander Elliott
  • Charles D Kopec
  • Carlos D Brody

National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH115416)

  • Thomas Zhihao Luo

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  • Thomas Zhihao Luo
  • Adrian Gopnik Bondy
  • Diksha Gupta
  • Verity Alexander Elliott
  • Charles D Kopec
  • Carlos D Brody

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocols (#1853) of Princeton University. All surgery was performed under isofluorane anesthesia, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.

Copyright

© 2020, Luo et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Thomas Zhihao Luo
  2. Adrian Gopnik Bondy
  3. Diksha Gupta
  4. Verity Alexander Elliott
  5. Charles D Kopec
  6. Carlos D Brody
(2020)
An approach for long-term, multi-probe Neuropixels recordings in unrestrained rats
eLife 9:e59716.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59716

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59716

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