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Studying task-related activity of individual neurons in the human brain

Nature Protocols volume 8, pages 949–957 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Single-neuronal studies remain the gold standard for studying brain function. Here we describe a protocol for studying task-related single-neuronal activity in human subjects during neurosurgical procedures involving microelectrode recordings. This protocol has two phases: a preoperative phase and an intraoperative phase. During the preoperative phase, we discuss informed consent, equipment setup and behavioral testing. During the intraoperative phase, we discuss the procedure for microelectrode recordings. Because patients are often awake during these procedures, this protocol can be performed in conjunction with behavioral tasks for studying a variety of cognitive functions. We describe the protocol in detail and provide two examples of expected results. In addition, we discuss the potential difficulties and pitfalls related to intraoperative studies. This protocol takes ∼1.5 h to complete.

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Figure 1: Photographs of intraoperative patient orientation and cannula placement.
Figure 2: Forward view of intraoperative physiology rig.
Figure 3: Composite image demonstrating electrode trajectory.
Figure 4: Top-down perspective of the operating room.
Figure 5: Representative neuronal data.
Figure 6: Individual and population neuronal responses of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex neurons during a cognitive interference task.
Figure 7: Population response of nucleus accumbens neurons predicting behavioral choice during a financial decision-making task.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) (National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) no.R01DA026297). E.N.E. was supported by National Eye Institute (NEI) grant no. NEI 1R01EY017658-01A1, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Conte Award no. MH086400, the Klingenstein Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Dana Foundation. S.R.P. was supported by the Sackler Programme in Psychobiology. S.A.S. was supported by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) grant no. R25 NS065743. We thank K. Finnis for providing the 3D reconstructions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Shaun R Patel, Clarissa Martinez-Rubio, Matthew K Mian, Churl-Su Kwon, Ziv M Williams & Emad N Eskandar

  2. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Shaun R Patel

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA

    Sameer A Sheth

  4. Department of Neurosurgery, Brown University Alpert Medical School, Brown Institute for Brain Science, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Wael F Asaad

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Jason L Gerrard

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Darin D Dougherty & Alice W Flaherty

  7. Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Alice W Flaherty

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Brown University Alpert Medical School, Brown Institute for Brain Science, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Benjamin D Greenberg

  9. Department of Neuroscience and Center for Neurological Restoration, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    John T Gale

Authors
  1. Shaun R Patel
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  12. Ziv M Williams
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  13. Emad N Eskandar
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Contributions

S.R.P., S.A.S., C.M.-R., M.K.M., W.F.A., J.L.G., C.-S.K., J.T.G., Z.M.W. and E.N.E. designed, conducted or analyzed the data. D.D.D., A.W.F., B.D.G., Z.M.W. and E.N.E. evaluated the patients and provided clinical care. S.R.P. and S.A.S. wrote the manuscript. All the authors edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shaun R Patel.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Patel, S., Sheth, S., Martinez-Rubio, C. et al. Studying task-related activity of individual neurons in the human brain. Nat Protoc 8, 949–957 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2013.050

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