Summary
Optogenetic stimulation offers powerful new ways to test the functional significance of coherent neuronal activity. In rodents, optogenetically stimulating specific classes of neurons has been shown to selectively perturb coherent neuronal dynamics. Testing the causal role of coherent neuronal dynamics for complex cognitive functions requires studies in non-human primates (NHP). How to selectively manipulate coherent dynamics in NHP, however, remains unclear due to lack of reliable cell-type expression. Here, we investigate neuronal dynamics in macaque frontal cortex when optogenetically stimulating neurons that express ChR2(H134R) pan-neuronally. Neuronal responses to optogenetic stimulation occurred within an effective temporal window of excitation that varied non-linearly with stimulation parameters. Given the observed temporal window of excitation, we designed model-based stimulation sequences to selectively perturb coherent dynamics. The results provide a procedure for using optogenetic stimulation to test the role of coherent neuronal dynamics for complex cognitive functions.
Footnotes
↵9 Lead Contact: Bijan Pesaran, Ph.D., 4 Washington Pl. Rm 809, Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003 USA, Tel: 212.998.3578, Fax 212.995.4011, E-mail: bijan{at}nyu.edu