AUTHOR=Moreaux Laurent C., Laurent Gilles 

TITLE=A simple method to reconstruct firing rates from dendritic calcium signals

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 2 - 2008

YEAR=2008

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/neuro.01.032.2008

DOI=10.3389/neuro.01.032.2008

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Calcium imaging using fluorescent reporters is the most widely used optical approach to investigate activity in intact neuronal circuits with single-cell resolution. Calcium signals, however, are often difficult to interpret, especially if the desired output quantity is membrane voltage or instantaneous firing rates. Combining dendritic intracellular electrophysiology and multi-photon calcium imaging in vivo, we recently investigated the relationship between optical signals recorded with the fluorescent calcium indicator Oregon Green BAPTA-1 (OGB-1) and spike output in principal neurons in the locust antennal lobe. We derived from these experiments a simple, empirical and easily adaptable method requiring minimal calibration to reconstruct firing rates from calcium signals with good accuracy and 50-ms temporal resolution.