Intrinsic Signal Optical Imaging Data Processing Methods And Software

Brain imaging technologies are very important in deeply analyzing the courses of information process and revealing the complicated function of brain. Compared to other brain imaging methods, optical brain imaging based on intrinsic signals would not influence the normal activities of neurons and can make the process of recording last for a longer time, for there is no coloration, fluorescence matieral or other external substance added to tissues. The most outstanding characteristics of optical imaging lie in its high temporal resolution and spatial resolution, which is a powerful tool to study the functional organization and dynamics process of the cortex. Besides, optical imaging can be used in repeated experiments for many times and chronic experiments on the same animals to investigate the changes of brain functional organizations in depth with the change of time or age.In cat's primary visual cortex, there always exist orientation functional maps. The locations of functional organization of the same animals would not change during recording courses. Meanwhile, the neuronal responses of primary visual cortex to the same drifting sinusoidal grating would not change as well and all the experiments can be repeated. Moreover, two complementary stimulus conditions activate distinct neuron populations in different spatial locations of the brain.In the paper, independent component analysis has been adopted to distract orientation functional organizations from cortex images recorded by optical recording directly. The results illustrate that space independent component analysis can effectively distract single condition maps from noises such as uneven illumination, fluctuation of cortex and other interferences. Distracting functional organizations of optical imaging by the means of independent component analysis presents a novel way of analyzing the intrinsic signals.Based on the former analysis methods, software based on Matlab has been drafted, which can realize the normal function needed in the experiments and fulfill the functions of distracting orientation functional maps by independent component analysis and filtering digitally. With the help of this platform, we can analyze and investigate optical imaging data in other encephalic regions much faster and more conveniently.