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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.