Abstract #2124
Distinct Characteristics of Brain Activity in Cat V1 and LGN in Response to Flicking and Grating Visual Stimuli: A fMRI Study at 9.4T
Zhu X, Zhang N, Zhang Y, Chen W
CMRR, Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota Medical School
We have demonstrated the feasibility of high-resolution fMRI at high field for reliably mapping the thalamocortical activation in the cat visual sensory system, a well-established animal model for vision science. In this study, we applied the same fMRI technique to investigate the dependence of neuronal activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and visual cortex (V1) on the type of visual stimulus by using flicking and grating stimuli. Our results demonstrate that both stimuli cause strong BOLD changes in LGN. However, the grating stimulus produces much stronger BOLD changes in V1 than the flicking stimulus indicating the distinct neural characteristics between different brain structures along the visual pathway in response to different stimuli.
