Spojitost mezi spontánními soubory neuronů a kortikální funkcí
| Thesis title in Czech: | Spojitost mezi spontánními soubory neuronů a kortikální funkcí |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Link between spontaneous cell assemblies and cortical function |
| Key words: | spontánní aktivita neuronů|vizuální kůra|matematické metody |
| English key words: | spontaneous neural activity|visual cortex|mathematical methods |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2023/2024 |
| Thesis type: | dissertation |
| Thesis language: | čeština |
| Department: | Department of Software and Computer Science Education (32-KSVI) |
| Supervisor: | Karolína Korvasová, M.Sc., Dr. rer. nat. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 20.03.2024 |
| Date of assignment: | 20.03.2024 |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 21.03.2024 |
| Advisors: | Mgr. Ján Antolík, Ph.D. |
| Guidelines |
| Brain function has been traditionally studied from the outside-in perspective by recording and analyzing responses to external stimuli [1]. The alternative inside-out perspective postulates that spontaneous activity contains a richer and more complete information about brain function. In the context of sensory neural prosthetics, functional properties of the neurons cannot be tested by recording their responses to stimuli as the given sensory system is dysfunctional. However, the knowledge of the preserved functional structure of the network is essential for successful induction of percepts by external stimulation [2], e.g. electrical or optogenetic.
It has been demonstrated that inference of the orientation preference map in the primary visual cortex is possible both from imaging [3], as well as electro-physiological recordings (our preliminary results), but so far we are neither able to infer other stimulus features from spontaneous activity, nor describe how the subnetworks corresponding to each type of representation interact. In this project we propose to build a graph theoretical representation of correlation structure observed in spontaneous activity of the primary visual cortex, activity evoked by natural stimuli and also functional similarity with respect to known represented features in the primary visual cortex. Using computational tools such as community detection algorithms, we will study the origin of spontaneous cell assemblies [4] and their link to cortical function. This knowledge will then be applied to designing a stimulus for a cortical visual prosthesis developed by our collaborators at the Miguel Hernandez University in Elche, Spain (Eduardo Fernandez). |
| References |
| [1] Buzsáki, G. The Brain from Inside Out | Oxford Academic. (Oxford University Press, 2019).
[2] Russell, L. E. et al. The influence of visual cortex on perception is modulated by behavioural state. BiorXiv. (2019) doi:10.1101/706010. [3] Kenet, T., Bibitchkov, D., Tsodyks, M., Grinvald, A. & Arieli, A. Spontaneously emerging cortical representations of visual attributes. Nature 425, (2003). [4] Palm G, Knoblauch A, Hauser F, Schüz A. Cell assemblies in the cerebral cortex. Biol Cybern. (2014). doi: 10.1007/s00422-014-0596-4. |