title: Study of the cortical representation of whisker directional deflection using voltage-sensitive dye optical imaging.
abstract: Using voltage-sensitive dye optical imaging methods, we visualized neural activity in the rat barrel cortex in response to the deflection of a single whisker in different directions. Obtained data indicates that fast movements of single whiskers in varying directions correlate with different patterns of activation in the somatosensory cortex. A functional map was created based on the voltage-sensitive dye optical signal. This supports prior research that vibrissae deflections cause responses in different cortical neurons within the barrel field according to the direction of the deflection. By analogy with the orientation columns in the visual cortex, directionally biased single-whisker responses to different directions of deflection could be a possible mechanism for the directional selectivity of this important sensory response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Box 1097, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. tsytsarev@seas.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Vassiliy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tsytsarev
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pumbo
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yablonskii
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hofmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D008297:Male; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes