Soft Lithographic Techniques for Guidance of Hippocampal Neurons on Micro-Electrode Arrays

In this work, different micropatterning methods were tested for use in patterning of primary culture neural cells. Etching of Teflon covered glass substrates was used to make shallow neural guides defined by hydrophobic/hydrophilic regions. A three-dimensional microfluidic system, fabricated from PDMS was tested as a way to guide neural growth through total confinement. These methods were tested for alignment on a commercially available microelectrode array (MED64). Biological culture and imaging techniques are considered.