Fabrication of biological neuronal networks for the study of physiologicalinformation processing

Biological neuronal networks have been proposed as intelligent models for s tudying physiological information processing. This article describes the fa brication of networks of cells in culture, where stimulation and response c an be measured at various locations in a controlled manner. Our initial wor k used geometrical aids to grow neurons from the central nervous system to spatially regulate their synaptic connections in culture, However, in this culture system, we could not identify pre- and postsynaptic neurons, and we found it difficult to determine that the connections were anatomically wir ed. On the basis of these initial experiments, we are now exploring the for mation of physiologically relevant synapses using morphologically identifia ble neurons dissociated from the goldfish retinotectum projection.