Electrocorticography

Soman stands as a prominent nerve agent in preclinical investigations focusing on neuroprotection. Analogous to its organophosphorus counterparts, soman manifests heightened toxicity through cholinesterase inhibition, instigating a consequential cholinergic crisis. Its pronounced capacity to phosphonylate the catalytic serine of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) triggers the aging reaction, hindering AChE reactivation. Consequently, the development of effective antidotes for soman emerges as a challenge. While acute effects of soman exposure, with high doses, have been extensively scrutinized, there

Mutations in dozens of chromatin regulators have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. One of these genes is chromodomain helicase DNA binding 2 (CHD2), encoding for a chromatin modifier with largely unknown neuronal functions. In humans, heterozygous loss of function mutations in CHD2 are associated with severe childhood-onset epilepsy, global developmental delay, intellectual disability, and autistic-like features. Here, we characterized the epileptic and behavioral phenotypes of a mouse model with Chd2 haploinsufficiency (Chd2+/m and Chd2m/m mice). Interestingly, we discovered th

One of the major challenges of addiction research is to identify vulnerable individuals before they develop addictive disorders. Indeed, only a small subset of users (20-30%) develop pathological behaviors such as loss of control over drug use and compulsive seeking/consumption of the substance despite the negative consequences. In rats, pathological low frequency oscillations in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) can predict compulsive-like cocaine seeking. However, the deep location of this predictive biomarker, requiring invasive electrode implantation, prevents its potential use in humans. Thus

…(1 mg/kg) of cannabinol in rats using electrocorticography and electromyography. Three groups were compared: rats that received saline, vehicle (1% Tween-80 dissolved in saline), and cannabinol dissolved in vehicle. We recorded data for 24 hours after a single injection, and for 7 days with injections taking place every day. Cannabinol decreased the percentage of time spent in non-REM sleep at different times across the day

…techniques, we developed soft Electrocorticography (ECoG) arrays that would conform the curvilinear surface of the cortex, suppor

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is the major glycoprotein in the brain and plays a critical role in the transport of cholesterol and other lipids. Besides, ApoE has a crucial function in the maintenance of synaptodendritic connections, and repair of neurons. ApoE knockout (ApoE-KO) mice model whose apoE gene has been knocked out has great importance for understanding the effect of ApoE and loss of function of ApoE. Scientists have reported cognitive impairment in ApoE-KO mice, with cholinergic deficits, decreased synaptic excitability. In the present study, we investigated the difference between the b

The human middle temporal complex (hMT+) has a crucial biological relevance for the processing and detection of direction and speed of motion in visual stimuli. In both humans and monkeys, it has been extensively investigated in terms of its retinotopic properties and selectivity for direction of moving stimuli; however, only in recent years there has been an increasing interest in how neurons in MT encode the speed of motion. In this talk, I will explore the proposed mechanism of speed encoding questioning whether hMT+ neuronal populations encode the stimulus speed directly, or whether they s

…To measure neural response, Electrocorticography (ECoG) has been utilized as an effective modality for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Many studies have shown that both motor imagery and movement execution are located in the frontoparietal region of the brain (Hardwick et. al., 2018). In this study, we aim to demonstrate a shared representation o

The human middle temporal complex (hMT+) has a crucial biological relevance for the processing and detection of direction and speed of motion in visual stimuli. In both humans and monkeys, it has been extensively investigated in terms of its retinotopic properties and selectivity for direction of moving stimuli; however, only in recent years there has been an increasing interest in how neurons in MT encode the speed of motion. In this talk, I will explore the proposed mechanism of speed encoding questioning whether hMT+ neuronal populations encode the stimulus speed directly, or whether they s

We have been developing Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) using electrocorticography (ECoG) [1] , which is recorded by electrodes implanted on brain surface, and magnetoencephalography (MEG) [2] , which records the cortical activities non-invasively, for the clinical applications. The invasive BCI using ECoG has been applied for severely paralyzed patient to restore the communication and motor function. The non-invasive BCI using MEG has been applied as a neurofeedback tool to modulate some pathological neural activities to treat some neuropsychiatric disorders. Although these techniques have bee

Recent studies have shown that stimulus history can be decoded via the use of broadband sensory impulses to reactivate mnemonic representations. It has also been shown that predictive mechanisms in the auditory system demonstrate similar tonotopic organization of neural activity as that elicited by the perceived stimuli. However, it remains unclear if the mnemonic and predictive information can be decoded from cortical activity simultaneously and from overlapping neural populations. Here, we passively exposed anesthetized rats to complex auditory sequences consisting of artificial vowel triple

Executive functions refer to a collection of mental processes such as attention, planning and problem solving, supported by a frontoparietal distributed brain network. These functions are essential for everyday life. Specifically in the context of patients with brain tumours there is a need to preserve them in order to enable good quality of life for patients. During surgeries for the removal of a brain tumour, the aim is to remove as much as possible of the tumour and at the same time prevent damage to the areas around it to preserve function and enable good quality of life for patients. In m