title: Can pathway-specific LFPs be obtained in cytoarchitectonically complex structures?
abstract: Deciphering how the brain encodes the continuous flow of information contained in natural stimuli requires understanding the spontaneous activity of functional assemblies in multiple neuronal populations. A promising integrative approach that combines multisite recordings of local field potentials (LFP) with an independent component analysis (ICA) enables continuous readouts of population specific activities of functionally different neuron groups to be obtained. We previously used this technique successfully in the hippocampus, a single-layer neuronal structure. Here we provide numerical evidence that the cytoarchitectonic complexity of other brain structures does not compromise the value of the ICA-separated LFP components, given that spatial sampling of LFP is representative. The spatial distribution of an LFP component may be quite complex due to folded and multilayered structure of the neuronal aggregate. Nevertheless, the time course of each LFP component is still a reliable postsynaptic convolution of spikes fired by a homogeneous afferent population. This claim is supported by preliminary experimental data obtained in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the awake monkey.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Neuroscience, Cajal Institute-CSIC Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Makarova
authors.affiliation: Group of Neuroscience and Motor Control (NEUROcom) and Institute for Biomedical Research of A Coruña, University of A Coruña La Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ortuño
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Neuroscience, Cajal Institute-CSIC Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Korovaichuk
authors.affiliation: Group of Neuroscience and Motor Control (NEUROcom) and Institute for Biomedical Research of A Coruña, University of A Coruña La Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cudeiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Mathematics, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Valeri A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Makarov
authors.affiliation: Group of Neuroscience and Motor Control (NEUROcom) and Institute for Biomedical Research of A Coruña, University of A Coruña La Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Casto
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rivadulla
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Neuroscience, Cajal Institute-CSIC Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Herreras
keywords: LFP model; independent component analysis; lateral geniculate nucleus; local field potentials; multicompartmental neuron model; network activity; spatial discrimination; spontaneous activity