MEA-seqX: High-resolution Profiling of Large-scale Electrophysiological and Transcriptional Network Dynamics

Abstract

Concepts of brain function imply congruence and mutual causal influence between molecular events and neuronal activity. Decoding entangled information from concurrent molecular and electrophysiological network events demands innovative methodology bridging scales and modalities. Our MEA-seqX platform, integrating high-density microelectrode arrays, spatial transcriptomics, optical imaging, and advanced computational strategies, enables the simultaneous recording and analysis of molecular and electrical network activities at the level of individual cells. Applied to a mouse hippocampal model of experience-dependent plasticity, MEA-seqX unveiled massively enhanced nested dynamics between transcription and function. Graph-theoretic analysis revealed an increase in densely connected bimodal hubs, marking the first observation of coordinated spatiotemporal dynamics in hippocampal circuitry at both molecular and functional levels. This platform also identified different cell types based on their distinct bimodal profiles. Machine-learning algorithms accurately predicted network-wide electrophysiological features from spatial gene expression, demonstrating a previously inaccessible convergence across modalities, time, and scales.