Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Cortical Sensorimotor Integration in Behaving Mice

Abstract

Tactile information is actively acquired and processed in the brain through concerted interactions between movement and sensation. Somatosensory input is often the result of self-generated movement during the active touch of objects, and conversely, sensory information is used to refine motor control. There must therefore be important interactions between sensory and motor pathways, which we chose to investigate in the mouse whisker sensorimotor system. Voltage-sensitive dye was applied to the neocortex of mice to directly image the membrane potential dynamics of sensorimotor cortex with subcolumnar spatial resolution and millisecond temporal precision. Single brief whisker deflections evoked highly distributed depolarizing cortical sensory responses, which began in the primary somatosensory barrel cortex and subsequently excited the whisker motor cortex. The spread of sensory information to motor cortex was dynamically regulated by behavior and correlated with the generation of sensory-evoked whisker movement. Sensory processing in motor cortex may therefore contribute significantly to active tactile sensory perception.

How networks communicate: propagation patterns in spontaneous brain activity

“…Thus, the propagation structure of rs-fMRI data is defined by a set of remarkably conserved, bilaterally symmetric propagation sequences. This finding is in accordance with data collected using voltage sensitive dyes and genetically encoded calcium in mice and rats, where preserved patterns of slow, bilaterally propagating processes have been described [27][28][29][30][31][32][33].…”

“…functional connectivity) integrates over time to provide a static spatial view of brain organization [18,20,26]. However, ample evidence of structured propagated intrinsic activity has been reported in the mouse using voltage sensitive dyes as well as genetically encoded calcium imaging [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. These observations raise the question: can evidence of temporal propagation be found in the spontaneous BOLD signal?…”

Mesoscale infraslow spontaneous membrane potential fluctuations recapitulate high-frequency activity cortical motifs

“…Although we did observe an increase in background correlation in infraslow spontaneous activity versus slow spontaneous activity, global signal removal was not necessary using VSD imaging to reveal infraslow functional connectivity. The dye also has an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and its efficacy has been established in monitoring sensory-evoked, optogenetically evoked and spontaneous activity at high spatial and temporal resolution 27,28,31,33,40,51 . We have previously demonstrated the high spatial resolution of our VSD imaging with an optical resolution of 67 mm (ref.…”

Functional integration across a gradient of corticostriatal channels controls UP state transitions in the dorsal striatum

“…During slow-wave sleep and anesthesia, alternating episodes of strong synaptic activity and membrane potential (V m ) depolarization (UP states) and periods of almost complete silence (DOWN states) spread coordinately across the neocortex every second, bringing up distinctive local field potential (LFP) modulations (1,2). Subthreshold activity, evidenced either as waves of depolarization over restricted cortical areas or sustained depolarizations, is more intricate during the wake period (2)(3)(4). The depolarized states of wakefulness and sleep are an emergent feature of cortical networks (5) and allow online information processing and the reactivation of memory traces during slow-wave sleep (6).…”