Toward brain-wide lifetime electrophysiology at single-cell single-spike resolution in mammals via implantable microelectronics

Technological advances in electrical sensing of the brain have driven major breakthroughs in neuroscience. The mammalian brain operates across extraordinary spatial and temporal scales, from single-neuron action potentials to brain-wide network dynamics that evolve over the lifespan. Capturing these processes therefore requires electrophysiological technologies capable of brain-wide, lifetime recording at single-cell and single-spike resolution. Implantable microelectronics offer a promising pathway toward this goal but face fundamental challenges in scalability, long-term biocompatibility, implantation, and data handling. In this review, we connect the multiscale nature of mammalian neural activity to the underlying engineering constraints of lifetime electrophysiology and synthesize emerging strategies spanning materials, microelectronics, implantation, data transmission and processing. Together, these advances define a conceptual and technological roadmap toward brain-wide, lifelong electrophysiology enabled by implantable microelectronics.