Electrophysiological Analysis of Human Neocortex In Vitro: Experimental Techniques and Methodological Approaches

Abstract

ABSTRACT:In this review we summarize a number of technical and methodological approaches that have been used in our laboratory to study human brain slices maintained in vitro. The findings obtained in the course of these studies appear to be relevant in establishing he mechanisms that underlie physiological phenomena of the human brain such as synaptic plasticity or responses to neuroactive drugs. Moreover, these data are important for understanding certain fundamental mechanisms of epilepsy. In this respect, however, we aution that the mechanisms that apply to different forms of clinical epilepsy might be ifficult to find given the variability present in the pathogenesis of human epilepsy.