High-sensitivity detection of optogenetically-induced neural activity with functional ultrasound imaging

Edelman et al. from Stanford University implanted NeuroNexus 16-channel linear neural electrodes (A1x16-5mm-50-703-A16) into the bilateral primary motor cortex and striatum of mice. They found that functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) is a more sensitive hemodynamic readout of optogenetically-induced neuronal activity compared to fMRI. Additionally, they found that LFP signals in the bilateral M1 and striatum co-localized better with fUSI activation patterns than those of fMRI. By isolating the arterial and venous components of the vascular response, they showed that fUSI can map large-scale neural circuit activity with vessel-type specificity.