A picoliter 'fountain-pen' using co-axial dual pipettes

A double pipette system for local, controlled drug infusion is presented. Two concentric pipettes can be manipulated separately and pressurized independently by a designated double holder. The inner pipette. is loaded with the desirable solution (drug), and functions as a source, while the outer one is a sink. This gives a flow of the solution between the two pipettes that protrudes only a small distance into the surrounding fluid and does not diffuse away. Time resolution of the infusion is highly controllable, and oscillatory flow can be generated. Three implementations of the double pipette system are demonstrated. We show that local application of neurotransmitters in neuronal networks is an efficient way of stimulating activity in the network. We then present a wet micro lithography technique using topical application of proteins onto the substrate. Finally, we show that we can localize a given drug on a small targeted part of a cell. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.