A hybrid circuit of a semiconductor chip and synaptically connected neurons was implemented and characterized. Individual nerve cells from the snail Lymnaea stagnalis were immobilized on a silicon chip by microscopic picket fences of polyimide. The cells formed a network with electrical synapses after outgrowth in brain conditioned medium. Pairs of neurons were electronically interfaced for noninvasive stimulation and recording. Voltage pulses were applied to a capacitive stimulator on the chip to excite the attached neuron. Signals were transmitted in the neuronal net and elicited an action potential in a second neuron. The postsynaptic excitation modulated the current of a transistor on the chip. The implementation of the silicon-neuron-neuron-silicon circuit constitutes a proof-of-principle experiment for the development of neuroelectronic systems to be used in studies on neuronal signal processing, neurocomputation, and neuroprosthetics.

We measured the separation of cell membranes from a surface of silica with nanometer precision taking advantage of the fluorescence of an organic dye in the standing modes of light above silicon. For neural cells from rat brain we found about 105 nm on a surface coated with laminin and about 60 nm with fibronectin. No plaques of close adhesion were seen within a lateral resolution of 400 nm. The wide homogeneous cleft raises the question about the nature of the attractive and repulsive forces in cell adhesion.