Future hybrid neuron-semiconductor chips will consist of complex neural networks that are directly interfaced with electronic integrated circuits. They will help to understand the dynamics of neuronal nets and may lead to novel computational facilities. Here we report on an elementary step towards such neurochips. We designed and fabricated a silicon chip for multiple two-way interfacing and cultured on it pairs of neurons from the pedal ganglia of the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. These neurons were joined with each other by an electrical synapse and to the chip by a capacitive stimulator and a recording transistor. We obtained a set of neuroelectronic units with sequential and parallel signal transmission through the neuron-silicon interface and the synapse, with a bidirectionally interfaced neuron-pair and with a signal path from the chip through a synaptically connected neuron pair back to the chip. The prospects for assembling more involved hybrid networks on the basis of these neuroelectronic units are considered.
Sketch of neurochips. (a) Project of a defined neuronal net that is supervised by an electrically active substrate. The cell bodies are positioned on two-way interfaces of a semiconductor chip to control and monitor network activity. The neurons are connected by dendrites and axons with defined positions of synapses. (b) Top: Symbols of the elements of hybrid nets: Synaptic contact, stimulation site and recording site. Center: Three hybrid units with parallel and sequential signal transmission through synapse and neuroelectronic junction. Bottom: Units of a bidirectionally interfaced neuron pair and of a signal transmission from chip to chip through a pair of neurons.
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