Functional Organization of Primate Visual Cortex Revealed by High Resolution Optical Imaging

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 249; no. 4967; pp. 417 - 420
• Main Authors: Daniel Y. Ts'o, Frostig, Ron D., Lieke, Edmund E., Grinvald, Amiram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 27-07-1990; American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Action Potentials; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cytochromes; Diagnostic Imaging; Electric Stimulation; Electron Transport Complex IV - analysis; Electrophysiology; Eyes; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Histology; Imaging; Imaging systems; Innovations; Macaca; Motor Neurons - physiology; Neurons, Afferent - physiology; Neuroscience; Ocular dominance; Oxidases; Perception; Physiological aspects; Primates; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Stripes; Synapses - physiology; Vision; Vision, Ocular - physiology; Visual cortex; Visual Cortex - anatomy & histology; Visual Cortex - physiology; Cerebral cortex; Visual cortex; High resolution; Orientation detector neuron; Methodology; Task organization; Experimental method; Monkey; Central nervous system; Electrophysiology; Instrumentation; Vertebrata; Visual stimulus; Mammalia; CCD camera; Animal; Ocular dominance; Imaging; Vision; Primates; Perception
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.2165630

A high spatial resolution optical imaging system was developed to visualize cerebral cortical activity in vivo. This method is based on activity-dependent intrinsic signals and does not use voltage-sensitive dyes. Images of the living monkey striate (V1) and extrastriate (V2) visual cortex, taken during visual stimulation, were analyzed to yield maps of the distribution of cells with various functional properties. The cytochrome oxidase-rich blobs of V1 and the stripes of V2 were imaged in the living brain. In V2, no ocular dominance organization was seen, while regions of poor orientation tuning colocalized to every other cytochrome oxidase stripe. The orientation tuning of other regions of V2 appeared organized as modules that are larger and more uniform than those in V1.