From heartbeats to brain function, excitable cells play a fundamental role in life. The evaluation of electrically active cells has historically been tedious, requiring months of training to study single cells at low throughput. Using Maestro MEA technology, any scientist can now quickly and easily measure electrical network behavior in live cells at high throughput.

Next generation MEA systems: Maestro Pro & Edge

MAESTRO MEA TECHNOLOGY
– MEASURE CELLULAR ACTIVITY LABEL-FREE IN REAL-TIME
Explore Life’s Circuitry
Maestro Multiwell MEA System
Cellular analysis for electroactive networks
Electrode


Well


Plate

Explore Life’s Circuitry
An EEG or EKG in a plate

iPSC-derived Neurons

Neural network recordings – EEG in a plate
Electrical activity is captured from neurons (orange) cultured over electrodes (gray circle). The Maestro MEA system detects key parameters of neural network activity, including functionality, excitability, and connectivity.



Modeling Neural Systems
Creating a Neural Fingerprint

Modeling Neurological Disease with MEA
Ideal technology to combine with stem or primary cell models
Maestro Publications: 100 and counting
- ALS (motor)
- Alzheimer’s
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Bipolar Disorder
- Cockayne Syndrome
- Dravet Syndrome
- Epilepsy
- Fragile X
- Huntington’s Disease (forebrain, cortical)
- Pain (dorsal root ganglion)
- Parkinson’s (mid-brain, dopamine)
- Rhett Syndrome
- Schizophrenia
- Williams Syndrome

Bursting in iPSC-derived ALS Motor Neurons Recorded with Maestro MEA system
Cardiomyocyte recordings – EKG in a plate
The Maestro MEA system detects key parameters of cardiomyocyte activity, including depolarization, propagation of excitibitality, repolarization, beat timing and irregular beating (arrhythmia).

Modeling Cardiac Systems
MEA provides mechanistic electrophysiological endpoints in vitro

Ionic Currents within a Single, Isolated cell
– Patch Clamp

Functional Cardiomyocyte Network
– Microelectrode Array(MEA)

Entire Heart
– Electrocardiogram
MEA Advantages: Predictive and Reproducible
MEA provides mechanistic electrophysiological endpoints in vitro



Assay captures and quantifies relevant ion channel and receptor activity.

LEAP (Local Extracellular Action Potential)
Signal Specifications

The LEAP Advantage
The LEAP signal provides a direct mapping from field potential to action potential morphology

Arrhythmia/EAD detection

LEAP Case Study on Selective Blockers



Product
Consumable
CYTOVIEW MEA
The CytoView MEA plates combine robust data collection with a transparent well bottom for cell visualization and assay multiplexing
BIOCIRCUIT MEA
The BioCircuit MEA plates deliver high-quality results together with industry-leading throughput at the lowest cost per well
LUMOS MEA
The Lumos MEA plates combine the robustness and assay flexibility of a CytoView MEA plate with white walls and a custom optical lid for optimal light delivery in each well
CLASSIC MEA
Axion’s pioneering Classic MEA plates deliver high-quality results together with industry-leading throughput
Applications

DISEASE MODELING
Disease models enable understanding of how the disease develops and the discovery of potential treatment approaches.
Maestro MEA technology is helping advance the understanding of brain and cardiac diseases, from epilepsy and fragile X syndrome, to cardiac Long QT syndrome in an animal or an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) model.

LEAP : LOCAL EXTRACELLULAR ACTION POTENTIALS
Axion’s patent-pending Local Extracellular Action Potential (LEAP) assay signal allows quantification of action potential morphology and characterization of complex repolarization irregularities (e.g. early after depolarizations (EADs)). LEAP is label-free and doesn’t disrupt the underlying biology, meaning you can focus on the pharmacology and not on dye-drug or dye-biology interactions.

STEM CELL MODEL DEVELOPMENT
Developing advanced electrically active cell models is challenging. Are gene expression, FACS, or Western blots enough to capture the complexity of your stem-cell derived neurons and cardiomyocytes? The cells may have the proper characteristics, but how do they function in a network?
Maestro microelectrode array (MEA), the multiwell in vitro platform provides you with the cell activity information you’ve been missing. Now you can track the differentiation of electroactive cells (e.g. neurons, cardiomyocytes, and muscle cells) label-free in real-time with the Maestro multiwell activity map.

CiPA
The inability to predict a drug’s cardiovascular liability prior to clinical trials or launch has resulted in numerous costly late stage drug development failures and market withdrawals. The aim of the Comprehensive in vitro Proarrhythmia Assay (CiPA) initiative is to update the existing cardiac safety testing paradigm to better evaluate arrhythmia risk . One proposed test of the CiPA panel is a microelectrode array (MEA) assay that tracks drug-induced changes to beating heart cells in a dish.
The Maestro MEA system played a pivotal role in the CiPA Myocyte studies.

SAFETY & TOXICOLOGY
Coupled with high-throughput, functional platforms like the Maestro MEA system, new predictive in vitro models are being developed.
These new models hold the promise of altering the current safety paradigm, improving predictivity, lowering cost, animal usage, and creating safer new drugs.

DRUG DISCOVERY
With the Maestro, high-throughput electrophysiology assessment of a functioning cell network provides a innovative approach to drug discovery whch requires high-throughput and high volume for both experiments and data analysis. Maestro APEX, a benchtop workstation automates every facet of Maestro experiments from cell culture through dosing, allowing you to screen more plates and more compounds faster than ever.

OPTOGENETICS
Recreating physiologically relevant cell activity in your assay increases the power of your research. Now you can control cell excitability with light. Optogenetics techniques use genetic targeting to express light-sensitive ion channels (e.g. channelrhodopsin-2, ChR2) in targeted cell populations. When optically stimulated with the opsin-specific activation wavelength, those ion channels are activated, causing depolarization or hyperpolarization of the cell membrane.
Stimulating cell cultures with specific wavelengths of light allows you to activate or silence cell activity in targeted cell populations.

ZEBRAFISH
Zebrafish have emerged as a valuable animal model for studying developmental and drug effects. Zebrafish are advantageous because they can be easily genetically altered and bath applied compounds can readily penetrate the fish.
With Maestro MEA you can non-invasively study neural activity in both zebrafish head and spine. The high-density grid of recording electrodes in each well of a Maestro MEA plate provides neural data with high spatial and temporal resolution. The non-invasive nature of MEA also has the advantage of fish survival for future experiments.
EMERGING APPLICATIONS
Use Maestro technology to better understand your electrically active cellular system. Additional investigations with the Maestro platform include studying signaling at neuromuscular junctions, hormonal signaling in hypothalamic neurons, the influence of glucose on pancreatic cells and optical stimulation of retinal cells. Contact our Applications Scientist Support Team to discuss your vision for applying MEA to your research.