Cortical Functional Mapping Based on Intrinsic Optical Signals

Abstract

Optical imaging based on intrinsic signals records the activity of cells in a wide cortical area simultaneously. We have applied this technique to the studies of functional organizations of various visual areas of cats and monkeys. In general, due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of captured signals, signal extraction is critical for a successful experiment. Here, we summarize some of the signal processing methods we have proposed. Optical imaging is with high spatial but relative low temporal resolution. In contrast, the electrophysiological recording with micro-electrodes reveals the cell activity in millisecond order or higher temporal resolution but only from a single or a few cells simultaneously. To overcome such drawback, we proposed to combine the optical imaging with single cell recording with micro-electrodes, which makes it possible to map the functional organization in large cortical areas, and in addition evaluate the interaction between neurons or cortical areas such as activity correlation, synchronizations of underlying cells. This review also introduces the application of such technology.