Microfluidic platforms for single neuron analysis

Materials Today Bio

Srabani Kar¹  Kavitha Illath²  Ashwini Shinde²  Pallavi Gupta²  Tuhin Subhra Santra²  Fan-Gang Tseng³  Moeto Nagai⁴ 

[1] Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0FA, UK;Department of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India;Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, 30013, Taiwan;Department of Mechanical Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, 441-8580, Japan;

关键词: Single neuron analysis;    Microfluidic devices;    Microelectrode array;    Single cell analysis;    Single neuron dynamics;    Omics;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Single-neuron actions are the basis of brain function, as clinical sequelae, neuronal dysfunction or failure for most of the central nervous system (CNS) diseases and injuries can be identified via tracing single-neurons. The bulk analysis methods tend to miscue critical information by assessing the population-averaged outcomes. However, its primary requisite in neuroscience to analyze single-neurons and to understand dynamic interplay of neurons and their environment. Microfluidic systems enable precise control over nano-to femto-liter volumes via adjusting device geometry, surface characteristics, and flow-dynamics, thus facilitating a well-defined micro-environment with spatio-temporal control for single-neuron analysis. The microfluidic platform not only offers a comprehensive landscape to study brain cell diversity at the level of transcriptome, genome, and/or epigenome of individual cells but also has a substantial role in deciphering complex dynamics of brain development and brain-related disorders. In this review, we highlight recent advances of microfluidic devices for single-neuron analysis, i.e., single-neuron trapping, single-neuron dynamics, single-neuron proteomics, single-neuron transcriptomics, drug delivery at the single-neuron level, single axon guidance, and single-neuron differentiation. Moreover, we also emphasize limitations and future challenges of single-neuron analysis by focusing on key performances of throughput and multiparametric activity analysis on microfluidic platforms.

【 授权许可】

Unknown