Millisecond-Timescale Optical Control of Neural Dynamics in the Nonhuman Primate Brain

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 neurons resulted in well-timed excitatory and suppressive influences on neocortical neural networks. ChR2 was safely expressed, and could mediate optical neuromodulation, in primate neocortex over many months. These findings highlight a methodology for investigating the causal role of specific cell types in nonhuman primate neural computation, cognition, and behavior, and open up the possibility of a new generation of ultraprecise neurological and psychiatric therapeutics via cell-type-specific optical neural control prosthetics.
Helen Hay Whitney Foundation (Fellowship)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH-EY002621-31)
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT (Neurotechnology Award)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant NIH-EY12848)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant NIH-EY017292)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2 OD002002-01))
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
United States. Dept. of Defense
National Science Foundation (U.S.)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Dr. Gerald Burnett and Marjorie Burnett
SFN Research Award for Innovation in Neuroscience
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
Benesse Foundation
Wallace H. Coulter Foundation