Functional characterization of minicolumnar patterns in the somatosensory cortex

Functional characterization of minicolumnar patterns in the somatosensory cortex Public Deposited

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Chiu, Joannellyn
- Affiliation: School of Medicine, UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering

Abstract

In the somatosensory cortex, minicolumns have previously been shown to not only be cortical structures, but to be functional entities as well. However, research of their functional role in cortical information processing has been limited. The main focus of the research in this manuscript was to assess and quantify the information processing role of the minicolumn in the evoked cortical response. More specifically, the evoked minicolumnar spatial pattern in SI in a number of stimulus conditions is evaluated. Differences in evoked minicolumnar spatial patterns were examined by evaluation of the change in the stimulus parameters, such as stimulus site location, amplitude, and frequency, needed to evoke a just noticeable difference in the evoked minicolumnar spatial pattern. Through the use of OIS imaging techniques, OIS images for both in vitro and in vivo assays were collected and analyzed. Data analyses revealed that evoked minicolumnar spatial patterns in SI and the sensorimotor cortical slice do contain information that can be correlated to stimulus conditions, and these evoked minicolumnar patterns are time-dependent, stimulus specific, and reproducible.

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