How does MEA compare to patch clamp electrophysiology?

Patch clamp electrophysiology provides high-resolution, intracellular recordings from individual cells and is the gold standard for studying ion channel and synaptic mechanisms. MEA assays, by contrast, record extracellular activity from neuronal populations in a non-invasive manner, enabling long-term, longitudinal monitoring of network dynamics and higher-throughput experiments. While MEAs do not capture subthreshold or single-channel events, they are well suited for studying functional connectivity, development, and pharmacological effects at the network level.