Meister M, Pine J, Baylor D A
Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
J Neurosci Methods. 1994 Jan;51(1):95-106. doi: 10.1016/0165-0270(94)90030-2.
Throughout the central nervous system, information about the outside world is represented collectively by large groups of cells, often arranged in a series of 2-dimensional maps connected by tracts with many fibers. To understand how such a circuit encodes and processes information, one must simultaneously observe the signals carried by many of its cells. This article describes a new method for monitoring the simultaneous electrical activity of many neurons in a functioning piece of retina. Extracellular action potentials are recorded with a planar array of 61 microelectrodes, which provides a natural match to the flat mosaic of retinal ganglion cells. The voltage signals are processed in real time to extract the spike trains from up to 100 neurons. We also present a method of visual stimulation and data analysis that allows a rapid characterization of each neuron's visual response properties. A randomly flickering display is used to elicit spike trains from the ganglion cell population. Analysis of the correlations between each spike train and the flicker stimulus results in a simple description of each ganglion cell's functional properties. The combination of these tools will allow detailed study of how the population of optic nerve fibers encodes a visual scene.
在整个中枢神经系统中，有关外部世界的信息由大量细胞共同呈现，这些细胞通常排列成一系列二维图谱，并通过具有许多纤维的束相连。为了理解这样一个回路如何编码和处理信息，必须同时观察其许多细胞所携带的信号。本文描述了一种监测功能正常的视网膜片中许多神经元同步电活动的新方法。利用由61个微电极组成的平面阵列记录细胞外动作电位，这与视网膜神经节细胞的扁平镶嵌结构自然匹配。对电压信号进行实时处理，以从多达100个神经元中提取尖峰序列。我们还提出了一种视觉刺激和数据分析方法，可快速表征每个神经元的视觉反应特性。使用随机闪烁显示器从神经节细胞群体中引出尖峰序列。分析每个尖峰序列与闪烁刺激之间的相关性，可对每个神经节细胞的功能特性进行简单描述。这些工具的结合将有助于详细研究视神经纤维群体如何编码视觉场景。
