Extracellular potassium concentration, [K+]o, plays a fundamental role in the physiological functions of the brain. Studies investigating changes in [K+]o have predominantly relied upon glass capillary electrodes with K+-sensitive solution gradients for their measurements. However, such electrodes are unsuitable for taking spatio-temporal measurements and are limited by the surface area of their tips. We illustrate seizures invoked chemically and in optogenetically modified mice using blue light exposure while impedimetrically measuring the response. A sharp decrease of 1–2 mM in [K+]o before each spike has shown new physiological events not witnessed previously when measuring extracellular potassium concentrations during seizures in mice. We propose a novel approach that uses multichannel monolayer coated gold microelectrodes for in vivo spatio-temporal measurements of [K+]o in a mouse brain as an improvement to the conventional glass capillary electrode.
