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In vitro electrical conductivity of seizing and non-seizing mouse brain slices at 10 kHz

Abstract
The electrical conductivity of small samples of mouse cortex (in vitro) has been measured at 10 kHz through the four-electrode method of van der Pauw. Brain slices from three mice were prepared under seizing and non-seizing conditions by changing the concentration of magnesium in the artificial cerebrospinal fluid used to maintain the tissue. These slices provided 121 square samples of cortical tissue; the conductivity of these samples was measured with an Agilent E4980A four-point impedance monitor. Of these, 73 samples were considered acceptable on the grounds of having good electrical contact between electrodes and tissue excluding outlier measurements. Results show that there is a significant difference (p = 0.03) in the conductivities of the samples under the two conditions. The seizing and non-seizing samples have mean conductivities of 0.33 and 0.36 S m⁻¹, respectively; however, these quantitative values should be used with caution as they are both subject to similar systematic uncertainties due to non-ideal temperature conditions and non-ideal placement of electrodes. We hypothesize that the difference between them, which is more robust to uncertainty, is due to the changing gap junction connectivity during seizures.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Elbohouty, M., Wilson, M. T., Voss, L. J., Steyn-Ross, D. A., & Hunt, L. A. (2013). In vitro electrical conductivity of seizing and non-seizing mouse brain slices at 10 kHz.. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 58(11), 3599-3613.
Date
2013
Publisher
Institute of Physics
Degree
Supervisors
Rights