Decoding circuit neural activity in peripheral nerve and cerebral cortex with Optical Coherence Tomography of structure and birefringence

监管者在一个跨学科的神经科学/工程学小组工作，他们的目标是开发方法来成像周围神经和大脑皮层数毫秒内的电路活动。在周围神经中，这种情况发生在神经内的隔室中，称为“束”。由美国国家健康研究所资助的一个当前的兴趣在于控制心脏和肺等内部器官的自主神经的成像活动，以期通过植入的微芯片设备的集中电刺激来治疗癫痫、糖尿病和关节炎等疾病。这种束的功能尚不清楚，我们利用电生理学、X-射线显微CT和电阻抗断层扫描(EIT)技术，已确定颈部迷走神经中的束分布于喉、心、肺和消化系统。我们正在与哈佛大学麻省理工学院的一个团队合作，他们开发了光学相干断层扫描(OCT)，通过高分辨率的结构成像来追踪神经束和它们提供的器官之间的联系。这个项目将利用OCT和其他技术来识别功能连接。我们还将扩展OCT以成像活动过程中光学双折射的变化。初步研究将在麻醉的猪和人身上进行颈部迷走神经的研究。这将扩展到大脑成像和解码神经或癫痫发作期间的生理和病理活动期间的成像功能活动。如果成功，这将提供一种突破性的新技术，可以在毫秒内将神经活动成像到细胞级别的10。

The supervisors work in an interdisciplinary neuroscience/engineering group whosegoal is to develop methods to image circuit activity over milliseconds in the peripheralnerve and cerebral cortex. In the peripheral nerve, this occurs in compartments withinthe nerve termed "fascicles". A current interest, funded by the National Institute ofHealth, USA, lies in imaging activity in autonomic nerves which control internal organssuch as the heart and lungs, with a view to treating diseases such as epilepsy,diabetes and arthritis by focused electrical stimulation from implanted microchipdevices. The function of such fascicles is not yet known; using electrophysiology, X-raymicroCT and Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT), we have identified fascicles inthe cervical vagus nerve in the neck which supply the larynx, heart, lungs anddigestive system. We are collaborating with a group at Harvard/MGH who havedeveloped Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to trace connections betweenfascicles and the organs they supply by high-resolution imaging of structure. Thisproject will be to utilize OCT with the other techniques to identify functionalconnections. We will also extend OCT to image optical birefringence changes duringactivity. Initial studies will be on the cervical vagus nerve in the anaesthetised pig andhumans. This will be extended to imaging in the brain and decoding of imagedfunctional activity during physiological and pathological activity in nerve or epilepticseizures in the brain. If successful, this would provide a groundbreaking new techniqueable to image neural activity over milliseconds to a cellular level resolution of 10.