Title:
The impact of thalamic state on thalamocortical sensory processing

dc.contributor.advisor Stanley, Garrett B.
dc.contributor.author Borden, Peter Young
dc.contributor.committeeMember Jaeger, Dieter
dc.contributor.committeeMember Haider, Bilal
dc.contributor.committeeMember He, Biyu
dc.contributor.committeeMember Liu, Robert
dc.contributor.department Biomedical Engineering (Joint GT/Emory Department)
dc.date.accessioned 2020-05-20T16:57:24Z
dc.date.available 2020-05-20T16:57:24Z
dc.date.created 2019-05
dc.date.issued 2019-04-02
dc.date.submitted May 2019
dc.date.updated 2020-05-20T16:57:24Z
dc.description.abstract The sensory thalamus controls the transmission of information from the periphery to the cortex and shapes our sensory percepts. While the thalamus receives prominent afferent projections from the sensory periphery via the brainstem, thalamic activity is also shaped through diverse modulatory inputs that influence a range of thalamic state properties including the time-varying baseline thalamic polarization. Although many neurological disorders including schizophrenia, and central pain syndrome are linked to thalamic dysfunction, basic information about ongoing thalamic processing is still unknown. Specifically, it is unclear how ongoing changes in membrane polarization (i.e. state) alter the transmission of information to and from the cortex. The goal of this thesis was to develop novel techniques to measure entire cortical regions and to determine the role of thalamic state on tactile thalamocortical processing. In order to measure spatiotemporal cortical responses, we developed the techniques for recording the genetically expressed voltage indicators (GEVIs) for widefield imaging of the primary sensory cortex. We then utilized optogenetics to adjust the ongoing thalamic activity, and measured the sensory evoked cortical response using GEVIs in the vibrissa pathway of the anesthetized and awake mouse. We found that pre-stimulus modulations of thalamic polarization greatly impacted the thalamic spontaneous activity and evoked response to punctate sensory stimuli. In particular, we observed that pre-stimulus hyperpolarization controlled the level of thalamic bursting that occurred either spontaneously or was evoked by sensory inputs. Regardless of changes in the thalamus, we found that the overall neural state (anesthetized or awake) dictated the downstream cortical response to changes in thalamic polarization. These results highlight the dynamic nature of thalamocortical processing and suggest an important role of ongoing thalamic polarization for the encoding of sensory features. Taken even further, our work suggests that state-dependent processing may play a predominate role in neural circuitry that extends beyond even thalamocortical circuits. By better understanding how thalamic state controls function of the highly complex thalamocortical circuit, it will be possible to develop better treatment options for neurological disorders.
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62679
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Neuroscience
dc.subject Cortex
dc.subject Thalamus
dc.subject Cortical imaging
dc.subject GEVI
dc.subject ArcLight
dc.subject Hyperpolarization
dc.subject Thalamocortical
dc.title The impact of thalamic state on thalamocortical sensory processing
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Stanley, Garrett B.
local.contributor.corporatename Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication dca92f2e-9822-4681-820f-1393dec7e15d
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication da59be3c-3d0a-41da-91b9-ebe2ecc83b66
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
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