microelectrode

noun

mi·​cro·​elec·​trode ˌmī-krō-i-ˈlek-ˌtrōd 

: a minute electrode

especially : one that is inserted in a living biological cell or tissue in studying its electrical characteristics

Examples of microelectrode in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

To use an early version of Stavisky’s brain-to-text system, the patient had 256 microelectrodes implanted into his ventral precentral gyrus, an area of the brain responsible for controlling vocal tract muscles. — ArsTechnica, 29 June 2025

One of its most notable innovations is the inclusion of 421 microelectrodes, each one thinner than a human hair, which allows the device to capture signals from individual brain cells with impressive precision. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 21 June 2025

All participants had microelectrodes inserted into their temporal lobes in preparation for an operation. — Michaela Maya-Mrschtik, Scientific American, 21 Oct. 2024

The microelectrode arrays linked up to metal pedestals that stuck outside his skin for connection to an external electric stimulator. — IEEE Spectrum, 13 Oct. 2016

Neuroscientists of that era speculated that the hippocampus was too far removed from the sensory organs to process their inputs in any manner that could easily be understood from a microelectrode recording. — May-Britt Moser, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2016

The surgeons implanted two tiny microelectrode arrays, each with 96 electrodes that could record the electrical activity of single neurons. — IEEE Spectrum, 17 June 2015

Word History

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

microelectrode

noun

mi·​cro·​elec·​trode ˌmī-krō-i-ˈlek-ˌtrōd 

: a minute electrode

especially : one that is inserted in a living biological cell or tissue in studying its electrical characteristics