A sputtered gold microelectrode in combination with a multibarrelled micropipette: a low impedance extracellular recording electrode with the facility of iontophoresis

The manufacture of a metal film electrode on a multibarrelled micropipette is described. Gold film is sputtered onto the external surface of a multibarrelled micropipette and subsequently insulated. Gold film exposed at the tip operates as an extracellular recording microelectrode and the micropipettes may be used for iontophoresis of drugs or marker dyes. This method may be used to produce electrodes with increased numbers of iontophoresis channels at the tip without altering the low impedance and good recording characteristics of the metal film (recording) electrode.