Further development of this device involves creating a taller vertical barrier between the adjacent compartments within each microwell to allow for distinct media reservoirs. One advantage of compartmentalized devices is to unbalance the liquid heights between compartments so that individual chambers can be treated with distinct chemicals without diffusion between chambers.5,6 Creation of a thicker PDMS insert into the microplate would extend the wall between compartments, allowing these individual treatments. To facilitate automation in the image processing of neural activity data, the incorporation of an automated ROI tracer should be explored in future work.35 Although the proposed platform provides a powerful means for automated HTS of therapeutic reagents in established neurocircuits, introducing an automated method for subsequent analysis would further enhance its usability in handling large datasets beyond manual and semiautomated methods.
