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Abstract:
We have recently combined electrical stimulation and fMRI and demonstrated that the excitability properties of the directly stimulated elements in neocortex using this method are very similar to those obtained with either intracortical recordings or behavioral methods (Tolias et al., 2005). Microstimulation in cortical area V1 of the macaque activated mainly the pyramidal fibers, and the effective current spread, that was measured by means of the BOLD activation, was found to be greater than that obtained with the other two methods. Stimulation of V1 (and in later studies of MT), however, revealed mainly the monosynaptic targets of each stimulated region. Here we set out to elucidate the conditions for which transsynaptic effects can be obtained. Experiments were conducted in anesthetized and alert monkeys in a 4.7T/40cm and 7T/60 scanner, respectively. Electrical stimulation was delivered using a biphasic pulse generator attached to a constant-current stimulus isolation unit. Constant-current charge-balanced, band-limited pulses of different center frequency, pulse duration and current strength were delivered to the brain for periods of 4 sec preceded and followed by 4 sec and 12 sec blank periods, respectively. The compensation circuit, designed to minimize interference generated by the switching gradients during recording, was always active, alleviating all gradient-induced currents in the range of the stimulation current. Local microstimulation was applied in dLGN, pulvinar, striate and extrastriate cortex. The areas activated upon stimulation of each of these sites was found to depend primarily on the central frequency of the frequency band used. Transsynaptic activation also depended on stimulation condition. Differences between the anesthetized and alert monkey experiments will be discussed.
