Synchrony surfacing: Epicortical recording of correlated action potentials

TY - JOUR

T1 - Synchrony surfacing: Epicortical recording of correlated action potentials

AU - Bockhorst, Tobias

AU - Pieper, Florian

AU - Engler, Gerhard

AU - Stieglitz, Thomas

AU - Galindo-Leon, Edgar

AU - Engel, Andreas K

N1 - © 2018 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2018/12

Y1 - 2018/12

N2 - Synchronous spiking of multiple neurons is a key phenomenon in normal brain function and pathologies. Recently, approaches to record spikes from the intact cortical surface using small high-density arrays of microelectrodes have been reported. It remained unaddressed how epicortical spiking relates to intracortical unit activity. We introduced a mesoscale approach using an array of 64 electrodes with intermediate diameter (250 μm) and combined large-coverage epicortical recordings in ferrets with intracortical recordings via laminar probes. Empirical data and modelling strongly suggest that our epicortical electrodes selectively captured synchronized spiking of neurons in the cortex beneath. As a result, responses to sensory stimulation were more robust and less noisy compared to intracortical activity, and receptive field properties were well preserved in epicortical recordings. This should promote insights into assembly-coding beyond the informative value of subdural EEG or single-unit spiking, and be advantageous to real-time applications in brain-machine interfacing.

AB - Synchronous spiking of multiple neurons is a key phenomenon in normal brain function and pathologies. Recently, approaches to record spikes from the intact cortical surface using small high-density arrays of microelectrodes have been reported. It remained unaddressed how epicortical spiking relates to intracortical unit activity. We introduced a mesoscale approach using an array of 64 electrodes with intermediate diameter (250 μm) and combined large-coverage epicortical recordings in ferrets with intracortical recordings via laminar probes. Empirical data and modelling strongly suggest that our epicortical electrodes selectively captured synchronized spiking of neurons in the cortex beneath. As a result, responses to sensory stimulation were more robust and less noisy compared to intracortical activity, and receptive field properties were well preserved in epicortical recordings. This should promote insights into assembly-coding beyond the informative value of subdural EEG or single-unit spiking, and be advantageous to real-time applications in brain-machine interfacing.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1111/ejn.14167

DO - 10.1111/ejn.14167

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 30345590

VL - 48

SP - 3583

EP - 3596

JO - EUR J NEUROSCI

JF - EUR J NEUROSCI

SN - 0953-816X

IS - 12

ER -