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Voltage-sensitive dye imaging of mouse neocortex during a whisker detection task
Alexandros Kyriakatos1, Vijay Sadashivaiah1, Yifei Zhang1
1Brain Mind Institute , Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Faculty of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland.
Neurophotonics
|December 7, 2016
Summary
Mice licking behavior modulates sensorimotor cortex activity. Successful trials showed greater depolarization, while whisking before a stimulus impaired performance and reduced cortical responses.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Systems Neuroscience
- Sensory Processing
Background:
- Sensorimotor processing in the mammalian neocortex is complex and distributed.
- Voltage-sensitive dyes (VSDs) allow imaging of cortical electrical activity with high temporal and spatial resolution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical activity during a learned sensorimotor task.
- To determine how behavioral factors influence neural responses to whisker stimulation.
Main Methods:
- Mice were trained to lick a water reward spout following a brief C2 whisker deflection.
- Cortical activity was imaged using VSD RH1691 during task execution.
- Trials were categorized as 'hit' or 'miss' based on licking behavior, and correlated with whisking activity.
Main Results:
- Whisker deflection evoked dynamic and distributed cortical responses with trial-to-trial variability.
- Hit trials exhibited greater overall depolarization than miss trials, particularly in the frontal cortex.
- Pre-stimulus whisking reduced task performance and attenuated sensorimotor cortical responses during miss trials.
Conclusions:
- Behavioral modulation significantly impacts sensorimotor cortex activity during learned sensorimotor transformations.
- Trial-to-trial variability in cortical depolarization is linked to behavioral outcomes.
- Understanding these modulations is crucial for comprehending goal-directed sensorimotor behavior.
