Multichannel Systems MEA Manual - Manual (Page 13)

MEA Manual
13
 Square MEAs with TiN (Titanium nitride) electrodes in 50 x 50 μm square size in a 8 x 8 layout grid.
 PEDOT-CNT MEAs with carbon nanotube – poly 3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene electrodes and gold tracks
and contact pads have very low impedance values of approximately 20 kThey are ideal for stimulation
and have excellent biocompatibility and cell adhesion.
 FlexMEAs made of flexible polyimide 2611 foil, perfect for in vivo and specific in vitro applications, for
example, whole-heart preparations. Available with 36 (FlexMEA36) or 72 (FlexMEA72) TiN (Titanium nitride)
electrodes.
 EcoFlexMEAs made of flexible polyimide (Kapton) as well, but very cost efficient and more robust than
FlexMEAs from polyimide foil. Available with 36 (EcoFlexMEA36) or 24 (EcoFlex24) gold electrodes.
4.1 Standard Electrode Numbering
The numbering of MEA electrodes in the 8 x 8 grid (standard MEAs, ThinMEAs, EcoMEAs, StimMEAs,
pMEAs) follows the standard numbering scheme for square grids: The first digit is the column number,
and the second digit is the row number. For example, electrode 23 is positioned in the third row of the
second column.
These numbers are the same numbers that are used as channel numbers in the MCS data acquisition
software, for example the MC_Rack program. Using MC_Rack please make sure that you have selected
the two-dimensional MEA layout as the “Channel Layout” in “Data Source Setup”. For more details,
please refer to the MC_Rack manual or help.
Important: MEAs are not symmetrical! That is, why the writing (for example NMI, LEITER, MEA type) on
the MEA chip should be on the right side viewed from the front, with the sockets of the amplifier in the
back. MEAs with one big internal reference electrode should be placed with reference electrode to the left
side in the amplifier. Otherwise, the MEA layout will not match with the pin layout of the channel map in
MC_Rack.
Other electrode grids are described in the next chapter, and in the Appendix.