An optimized surgical approach for obtaining stable extracellular single-unit recordings from the cerebellum of head-fixed behaving mice

Electrophysiological recording approaches are essential for understanding brain function. Among these approaches are various

The surgical principles we present for accessing the cerebellum can be easily adapted to examine the function of neurons in other brain regions.

Our approach is ideal for studying neuronal function in active mice and valuable for recording single-neuron activity when considerable motion is unavoidable. Conclusions: The surgical principles we present for accessing the cerebellum can be easily adapted to examine the function of neurons in other brain regions.

Using the cerebellum as a model, we implement an extracellular recording technique to acquire single units from Purkinje cells and cerebellar nuclear neurons in behaving mice. We validate the stability of our method by holding single units after injecting the powerful tremorgenic drug harmaline. We performed multiple structural analyses after recording. Comparison with existing methods: Our approach is ideal for studying neuronal function in active mice and valuable for recording single-neuron activity when considerable motion is unavoidable. Conclusions: The surgical principles we present for accessing the cerebellum can be easily adapted to examine the function of neurons in other brain regions.