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Voltage-sensitive dye
Glowing thoughts
RUB-scientist studies motion perception in the brain
How does the brain perceive motion? PD Dr. Dirk Jancke explores this question by means
of a special optical method. He reviews recent findings with voltage-sensitive dyes in a
special section of the journal Neurophotonics that honors Prof. Amiram Grinvald, one of
the most influencing researchers in this field.
Boosting the voltage
Dirk Jancke has given the phrase “a light-bulb moment” a whole new meaning. In his laboratory
he turns the activity of brain cells into light, using fluorescent dyes with a particular attribute:
They change their spectral properties in response to voltage changes. That means, if a brain
cell is activated, the voltage over the cell membrane increases and the dye starts to fluoresce
more. This imaging technique is called “voltage-sensitive dye imaging” or in short VSDI. It is a
groundbreaking technique that led to many new findings in neuroscience. ”Voltage-sensitive
indicators are providing us with the best spatiotemporal resolution we can currently achieve in
our experiments. That means, with VSDI we can observe widespread activity across the brain’s
surface in milliseconds and across several square millimeters.”, explains Jancke.
Research on optical illusions
Jancke learned how to use VSDI during his time as a postdoc in the laboratory of Prof. Amiram
Grinvald at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. “He is one of the pioneers in research on
voltage-sensitive dyes. As a postdoc in his laboratory I benefited greatly from his expertise.”,
says Jancke. During that period he was able to observe how a wave of activity spreads over the
visual cortex, when the brain processes visual motion. Instead of a real, physical motion,
Jancke used an optical illusion that created the impression of movement. Building up his own
Optical Imaging Lab at Ruhr-University Bochum he continued his research on visual brain
processing and extended his previous findings.
Recent experiments performed in his laboratory with VSDI showed for example, that the brain
processes a quick counterchange of luminance at two neighboring locations as a signal of
motion. The cause may be that neuronal information, indicating a change from bright to dark is
processed faster than a change from dark to bright. This phenomenon creates an asymmetric
and rapid spread, which can be visualized through VSDI as a wave of activity across the brain.
Such mechanism might be useful for the sensitive detection of body motion against “noisy”
backgrounds, especially in case of camouflage. Jancke is looking forward to find out which
mechanisms in the brain he will be able to observe next with VSDI. He is certain, that in the
future optical techniques will help to gain many more insights into the way the brain functions.
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH CENTER 874 · PROF. DR. D. MANAHAN-VAUGHAN, speaker
OUTREACH · Annegret Kalus, M.A. · Ruhr-Universität Bochum · Building FNO 01/110
Universitätsstraße 150 · D-44801 Bochum · Phone +49 (0)234 / 32-26603 · Fax +49 (0)234 / 32-14490
E-Mail: [email protected] · WWW.RUB.DE/SFB874
Funding
Parts of the research were financially supported by the Collaborative Research Centre 874 at
the Ruhr University Bochum, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Since 2010 the
interdisciplinary research consortium investigates how memory develops and how sensory
input is processed within the brain.
Reference:
D. Jancke (2017): Catching the voltage gradient—asymmetric boost of cortical spread
generates motion signals across visual cortex: a brief review with special thanks to Amiram
Grinvald. Neurophotonics, DOI: 10.1117/1.NPh.4.3.031206.
Link to the publication:
http://neurophotonics.spiedigitallibrary.org/article.aspx?articleid=2603516
Contact:
PD Dr. Dirk Jancke
Optical Imaging Lab
Institute for Neural Computation
Ruhr-University Bochum
Tel: 0234 32 27845
[email protected]
Text: Judith Merkelt
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