Triggering a Closed-Loop Stimulation by Neuron Spiking Activity

Take a rat with a surgically implanted device to record neural activity.

Download all the required software.

Record the initial spiking data and select template waveforms.

Resume data recording for the closed-loop stimulation experiment.

Closed-loop stimulation is a system in which sensors continuously record neural signals.

Upon detecting specific neural activity, a predefined stimulation is generated as feedback.

The sensors then record the neural response to this stimulation, continuing the loop.

Run the required program.

Load template waveforms from the initial recordings and select the desired number of templates required to trigger the stimulation.

Define a minimal number of neurons needed to initiate the stimulation.

Set parameters for the time period during which spike signals detected from different neurons will be considered co-active.

Begin the closed-loop experiment with predefined stimulation.

To perform a closed-loop experiment, resume the data acquisition in Cheetah and open Matlab. Open ClosedLoop.m and click Run. Alternatively, execute ClosedLoop in the command window. Browse to the recording folder, and select one of the spiking data files to load the spike information defined in the initial recording. Click the appropriate checkboxes under the plotted waveforms to select one or multiple neurons that will trigger stimulation.

Define the minimum number of neurons that will trigger stimulation by entering an integer in the Min Matches text box, and define the time window in which the spikes matching the different waveforms are considered co-active by entering a number into the Window text box. Then, click Send to begin the online triggering of events based on the spiking activity of the selected neurons.