BUILDING THE ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY ROOM

July 25th, 2020

Preparing the electrophysiology room is going well. Here is a sketch I sent the project manager on how to organize gas lines and tank mounts around the two planned electrophysiology rigs.  The next photos are the finished product. I think it looks great! 

One gas line (see the copper pipes along the wall) will supply compressed air. This will be used to float anti-vibration tables. These tables are necessary when you have electrodes placed on/in things as small as neurons. The other gas line will supply a vacuum (constant suction). This is necessary because, during neuronal recordings, we keep the neurons alive by constantly perfusing oxygenated artificial cerebral spinal fluid (ACSF) onto the brain slice.  Because the perfusion is constant, we also need to constantly remove the old ACSF. To suck out the old ACSF, we use the vacuum gas line. To keep the ACSF oxygenated, we will have oxygen tanks (placed on the white tank mounts) that bubble the ACSF solution before it is perfused onto the brain slice.