NEURONAL ACTIVITY AND OPTICAL SIGNALS IN THE BRAIN

描述：（改编自研究者摘要） 本研究的目的是确定 皮层神经活动与内源性视神经活动之间的关系 信号（不需要应用染料的信号）。光学成像 特别是内在光信号的研究 在过去的十年中，广泛探讨了在 大脑，尤其是视觉皮层。一些报告的结果已经 有些令人惊讶，有些仍然存在争议。 尽管这项技术具有天然的吸引力， 结果吸引了，很少有人知道在定量的细节， 神经活动和内在光信号之间的耦合， 有几个组成部分。这些知识对于正确解释 的活性和选择性选择性地图获得的光学成像。 提出了以下问题的调查：1）什么是 神经活动和光信号之间的定量关系？ 2)神经-光学关系在整个皮质中是否一致（各向同性）？第三章 神经活动的哪些方面（尖峰，突触活动）由 光信号？4)光信号的贡献是什么？ 大脑皮层中各种功能性或解剖性细胞类型 这些研究的结果将允许定量解释 活动地图不仅通过光学成像获得，而且还通过其他重要的 依赖于血液动力学滤波器的成像技术，如fMRI和PET， 现在不仅用于研究，还作为诊断工具， 临床实践

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract) The purpose of the proposed research is to determine the quantitative relationship between neural activity in the cortex and intrinsic optical signals (signals that do not require the application of dyes). Optical imaging of the cortex, especially of intrinsic optical signals, has been used extensively in the past decade to explore the functional organization in the brain, especially in the visual cortex. Some of the reported results have been surprising and some remain controversial. Despite the natural appeal of the technique and the wide attention that its results have attracted, very little is known in quantitative detail about the coupling between the neural activity and the intrinsic optical signal, which has several components. Such knowledge is crucial for the proper interpretation of the activity and selectivity selectivity maps obtained with optical imaging. An investigation of the following questions is proposed: 1) What is the quantitative relationship between the neural activity and the optical signal? 2) Is the neural-optical relationship uniform across the cortex (isotropic)? 3) What aspects of neural activity (spikes, synaptic activity) are represented by the optical signal? 4) What is the contribution to the optical signal of the various functional or anatomical cell types in the cortex? The results of these studies will allow a quantitative interpretation of activity maps obtained not only by optical imaging, but also by other important imaging technologies that rely on the hemodynamic filter, such as fMRI and PET, which are now used not only in research but also as diagnostic tools in clinical practice.