Ricerc@Sapienza

In the last decades, the advances in the micro and nano-fabrication techniques have led to the development of microdevices that have improved the possibility of analysis at cell level. These devices can be used in different applications: cell detection and identification, manipulation, cell treatments, but in particular they seem extremely promising for nanosecond pulses applications, where the requisite of broadband matching becomes highly demanding.

The initiation of action potentials (APs) by membrane depolarization occurs after a brief vulnerability period, during which excitation can be abolished by the reversal of the stimulus polarity. This vulnerability period is determined by the time needed for gating of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC). We compared nerve excitation by ultra-short uni- and bipolar stimuli to define the time frame of bipolar cancellation and of AP initiation.