Millisecond-timescale optical control of neural dynamics in the nonhuman primate brain

Xue Han, Xiaofeng Qian, Jacob G Bernstein, Hui-Hui Zhou, Giovanni Talei Franzesi, Patrick Stern, Roderick T Bronson, Ann M Graybiel, Robert Desimone, Edward S Boyden. Neuron, May 2009.

Abstract

To understand how brain states and behaviors are generated by neural circuits, it would be useful to be able to perturb precisely the activity of specific cell types and pathways in the nonhuman primate nervous system. We used lentivirus to target the light-activated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) specifically to excitatory neurons of the macaque frontal cortex. Using a laser-coupled optical fiber in conjunction with a recording microelectrode, we showed that activation of excitatory…