scholarly journals Selective Activation of Neuronal Targets With Sinusoidal Electric Stimulation

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 2778-2791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel K. Freeman ◽  
Donald K. Eddington ◽  
Joseph F. Rizzo ◽  
Shelley I. Fried

Electric stimulation of the CNS is being evaluated as a treatment modality for a variety of neurological, psychiatric, and sensory disorders. Despite considerable success in some applications, existing stimulation techniques offer little control over which cell types or neuronal substructures are activated by stimulation. The ability to more precisely control neuronal activation would likely improve the clinical outcomes associated with these applications. Here, we show that specific frequencies of sinusoidal stimulation can be used to preferentially activate certain retinal cell types: photoreceptors are activated at 5 Hz, bipolar cells at 25 Hz, and ganglion cells at 100 Hz. In addition, low-frequency stimulation (≤25 Hz) did not activate passing axons but still elicited robust synaptically mediated responses in ganglion cells; therefore, elicited neural activity is confined to within a focal region around the stimulating electrode. Our results suggest that sinusoidal stimulation provides significantly improved control over elicited neural activity relative to conventional pulsatile stimulation.

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena V. Grigorenko ◽  
Hermes H. Yeh

AbstractThis study profiled the expression of the family of GABAA receptor β-subunits in the adult rat retina. Using a combination of reverse transcriptase reaction followed by polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with gene-specific primers, the expression of mRNAs encoding the β1, β2, and β3 subunits was first examined in the intact retina and then in separated retinal nuclear layers. However, it was found that a critical analysis. had to be carried out at the level of the single cell in order to resolve the differential patterns of expression among the retinal cell types. When cells were isolated and identified following acute dissociation, RT-PCR revealed that individual rod photoreceptor cells expressed consistently the β1 and β2 messages while the bipolar cells expressed the β1 and β3 messages. Ganglion cells displayed considerable variability in β-subunit expression, perhaps reflecting their functional and morphological heterogeneity in the retina. In contrast, the nonneuronal Mueller cells did not express any of the β-subunit messages. These results indicate that the expression of GABAA receptor subunits is cell-type dependent. Furthermore, as the expression of other families of GABAA receptor subunits are profiled and the patterns of subunit assembly are better understood, our results raise the possibility that GABAA receptors with different subunit compositions can be expected to be coexpressed within a single retinal neuron.


2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (12) ◽  
pp. 1005-1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konosuke Yamasaki ◽  
Shuitsu Harada ◽  
Itsuro Higuchi ◽  
Mitsuhiro Osame ◽  
Gakuji Ito

1957 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. C. Lloyd

An assemblage of individual motoneurons constituting a synthetic motoneuron pool has been studied from the standpoint of relating monosynaptic reflex responses to frequency of afferent stimulation. Intensity of low frequency depression is not a simple function of transmitter potentiality. As frequency of stimulation increases from 3 per minute to 10 per second, low frequency depression increases in magnitude. Between 10 and approximately 60 per second low frequency depression apparently diminishes and subnormality becomes a factor in causing depression. At frequencies above 60 per second temporal summation occurs, but subnormality limits the degree of response attainable by summation. At low stimulation frequencies rhythm is determined by stimulation frequency. Interruptions of rhythmic firing depend solely upon temporal fluctuation of excitability. At high frequency of stimulation rhythm is determined by subnormality rather than inherent rhythmicity, and excitability fluctuation leads to instability of response rhythm. In short, whatever the stimulation frequency, random excitability fluctuation is the factor disrupting rhythmic response. Monosynaptic reflex response latency is stable during high frequency stimulation as it is in low frequency stimulation provided a significant extrinsic source of random bombardment is not present. In the presence of powerful random bombardment discharge may become random with respect to monosynaptic afferent excitation provided the latter is feeble. When this occurs it does so equally at low frequency and high frequency. Thus temporal summation is not a necessary factor. There is, then, no remaining evidence to suggest that the agency for temporal summation in the monosynaptic system becomes a transmitting agency in its own right.


1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 953-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. W. Glimcher ◽  
D. L. Sparks

1. The first experiment of this study determined the effects of low-frequency stimulation of the monkey superior colliculus on spontaneous saccades in the dark. Stimulation trains, subthreshold for eliciting short-latency fixed-vector saccades, were highly effective at biasing the metrics (direction and amplitude) of spontaneous movements. During low-frequency stimulation, the distribution of saccade metrics was biased toward the direction and amplitude of movements induced by suprathreshold stimulation of the same collicular location. 2. Low-frequency stimulation biased the distribution of saccade metrics but did not initiate movements. The distribution of intervals between stimulation onset and the onset of the next saccade did not differ significantly from the distribution of intervals between an arbitrary point in time and the onset of the next saccade under unstimulated conditions. 3. Results of our second experiment indicate that low-frequency stimulation also influenced the metrics of visually guided saccades. The magnitude of the stimulation-induced bias increased as stimulation current or frequency was increased. 4. The time course of these effects was analyzed by terminating stimulation immediately before, during, or after visually guided saccades. Stimulation trains terminated at the onset of a movement were as effective as stimulation trains that continued throughout the movement. No effects were observed if stimulation ended 40–60 ms before the movement began. 5. These results show that low-frequency collicular stimulation can influence the direction and amplitude of spontaneous or visually guided saccades without initiating a movement. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that the collicular activity responsible for specifying the horizontal and vertical amplitude of a saccade differs from the type of collicular activity that initiates a saccade.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document