Data for: Electrodeposited platinum-iridium coating improves in vivo recording performance of chronically implanted microelectrode arrays
Description
Reliable single unit neuron recordings from chronically implanted microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are highly valuable tools in the field of neural engineering. However, following implantation MEAs undergo a foreign body response that functionally isolates them from the brain and reduces the useful longevity of the array. We tested a novel electrodeposited platinum-iridium coating (EPIC) on penetrating recording MEAs to determine if it improved recording performance. We chronically implanted the arrays in rats and used electrophysiological and histological measurements to compare quantitatively the single unit recording performance of coated vs. uncoated electrode over a 12-week period. The coated electrodes had substantially lower impedance at 1 kHz and reduced noise, increased signal-to-noise ratio, and increased number of discernible units per electrode as compared to uncoated electrodes. Post-mortem immunohistochemistry showed some correlation between glial scarring and electrophysiological metrics, although the correlation was not sufficient to account for the distinct improvements seen with the coated electrodes. Overall, the EPIC arrays provided superior recording performance than uncoated arrays, likely due to lower electrode impedance and reduced noise. This dataset contains all impedance, unit yield, noise, amplitude, signal-to-noise ratio, and immunofluorescence data necessary to reproduce these findings.