Simultaneous recording of electrical activity and fluorescence signal from deep brain tissues by the photometric patch electrode

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26560464
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Brain biometrics
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: OHMORI Harunori 京都大学, 学内共同利用施設等, 教授 (30126015)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HIRAI Yasuharu 京都大学, 健康長寿社会の総合医療開発ユニット, 特定助教 (30648431) ; NAKASHIMA Noriyuki 久留米大学, 医学部, 助教 (80625468)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 測光電極 / パッチ電極 / 聴覚神経回路

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Photometric patch electrode (PME) has been invented to measure optical response and electrical response of neurons simultaneously in a deep brain tissue. We applied PME to the inferior colliculus (IC) and auditory cortex of the chick to understand the difference of auditory information processing depending on the level of ascending pathway of information transmission. We found that Ca response was transient in IC while it was prolonged in the auditory cortex. This indicates that the auditory cortex is more plastic than the lower level nuclei, and processes the information in order to adapt the brain function to the continuous change of input signals. The most difficult step of experiment was to get a stable labeling of neurons. In the future experiments it is ideal to combine PME recording technology with genetic fluorescence indicator proteins that are expressed in specific brain locations in order to understand the brain function in detail.

Free Research Field

神経生理学