Microelectrode

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title: "Microelectrode" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["neurophysiology", "physiology", "electrophysiology", "laboratory-techniques"] description: "Electrode used in electrophysiology" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microelectrode" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Electrode used in electrophysiology ::

::callout[type=note] the use of microelectrodes in electrophysiology ::

A microelectrode is an electrode used in electrophysiology either for recording neural signals or for the electrical stimulation of nervous tissue (they were first developed by Ida Hyde in 1921). Pulled glass pipettes with tip diameters of 0.5 μm or less are usually filled with 3 molars potassium chloride solution as the electrical conductor. When the tip penetrates a cell membrane the lipids in the membrane seal onto the glass, providing an excellent electrical connection between the tip and the interior of the cell, which is apparent because the microelectrode becomes electrically negative compared to the extracellular solution. There are also microelectrodes made with insulated metal wires, made from inert metals with high Young modulus such as tungsten, stainless steel, or platinum-iridium alloy{{cite journal |last=Cogan |first=Stuart F. |title=Neural Stimulation and Recording Electrodes|journal=Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering |date=August 2008 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=275–309 |doi=10.1146/annurev.bioeng.10.061807.160518 |pmid=18429704 |s2cid=25087051 |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2184/efac2c7e8a1ae37b67780c851c4bf4c17c99.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220094758/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2184/efac2c7e8a1ae37b67780c851c4bf4c17c99.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-02-20 }} and coated with glass or polymer insulator with exposed conductive tips. These are mostly used for recording from the external side of the cell membrane. More recent advances in lithography have produced silicon-based microelectrodes.

References

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::