Head-mounted microendoscopic calcium imaging in dorsal premotor cortex of behaving rhesus macaque
Anil Bollimunta,
Samantha R. Santacruz,
Ryan W. Eaton,
Pei S. Xu,
John H. Morrison,
Karen A. Moxon,
Jose M. Carmena,
Jonathan J. Nassi
Affiliations
Anil Bollimunta
Inscopix, Inc., 2462 Embarcadero Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA
Samantha R. Santacruz
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, 286 Li Ka Shing, MC #3370, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton Street, Stop C0800, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Ryan W. Eaton
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, 3141 Health Sciences Drive, Davis, CA 95616, USA; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Pei S. Xu
Inscopix, Inc., 2462 Embarcadero Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA
John H. Morrison
California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Karen A. Moxon
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, 3141 Health Sciences Drive, Davis, CA 95616, USA; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Jose M. Carmena
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, 286 Li Ka Shing, MC #3370, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Summary: Microendoscopic calcium imaging with one-photon miniature microscopes enables unprecedented readout of neural circuit dynamics during active behavior in rodents. In this study, we describe successful application of this technology in the rhesus macaque, demonstrating plug-and-play, head-mounted recordings of cellular-resolution calcium dynamics from large populations of neurons simultaneously in bilateral dorsal premotor cortices during performance of a naturalistic motor reach task. Imaging is stable over several months, allowing us to longitudinally track individual neurons and monitor their relationship to motor behavior over time. We observe neuronal calcium dynamics selective for reach direction, which we could use to decode the animal’s trial-by-trial motor behavior. This work establishes head-mounted microendoscopic calcium imaging in macaques as a powerful approach for studying the neural circuit mechanisms underlying complex and clinically relevant behaviors, and it promises to greatly advance our understanding of human brain function, as well as its dysfunction in neurological disease.
