Computer vision-guided open-source active commutator for neural imaging in freely behaving animals

Recently developed miniaturized neural recording devices that can monitor and perturb neural activity in freely behaving animals have significantly expanded our knowledge of neural underpinning of complex behaviors. Most miniaturized neural interfaces require a wired connection for external power and data acquisition systems. The wires are required to be commutated through a slip ring to accommodate for twisting of the wire or tether and alleviate torsional stresses. The increased trend toward long-term continuous neural recordings has spurred efforts to realize active commutators that can sense the torsional stress and actively rotate the slip ring to alleviate torsional stresses. Current solutions however require the addition of sensing modules.

Here, we report on an active translating commutator that uses computer vision (CV) algorithms on behavioral imaging videos captured during the experiment to track the animal's position and heading direction in real time and uses this information to control the translation and rotation of a slip ring commutator to accommodate for accumulated mouse heading orientation changes and position.

The CV-guided active commutator has been extensively tested in three separate behavioral contexts.

We show reliable cortex-wide imaging in a mouse in an open field with a miniaturized wide-field cortical imaging device. Active commutation resulted in no changes to measured neurophysiological signals.

The active commutator is fully open source, can be assembled using readily available off-the-shelf components, and is compatible with a wide variety of miniaturized neurophotonic and neurophysiology devices.