title: Probing the function of neuronal populations: combining micromirror-based optogenetic photostimulation with voltage-sensitive dye imaging.
abstract: Recent advances in our understanding of brain function have come from using light to either control or image neuronal activity. Here we describe an approach that combines both techniques: a micromirror array is used to photostimulate populations of presynaptic neurons expressing channelrhodopsin-2, while a red-shifted voltage-sensitive dye allows optical detection of resulting postsynaptic activity. Such technology allowed us to control the activity of cerebellar interneurons while simultaneously recording inhibitory responses in multiple Purkinje neurons, their postsynaptic targets. This approach should substantially accelerate our understanding of information processing by populations of neurons within brain circuits.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Synaptic Circuitry, Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 8 College Road, Singapore 169857, Singapore.
authors.forename: Sachiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: Michelle Z L
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Kee
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.forename: Jinsook
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Leslie M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Loew
authors.forename: George J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Augustine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology; D000075402:Channelrhodopsins; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D055096:Optical Devices; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D062308:Optogenetics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D056969:Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000075402:Channelrhodopsins