The transient sensations experienced by the vestibular system are critical for everyday activities such as gaze stabilization and the perception of self-motion. Accordingly, the investigation of vestibular neural coding would greatly benefit from the use of optogenetic methods; with which neuronal activity can be precisely and reliably modulated with high temporal precision. Due to our shared bipedality and close evolutionary origins, non-human primates (NHPs) are the ideal model animals. However, unlike application in invertebrates and rodents, optogenetic techniques using NHPs have not been well established, requiring researchers to infer the best approach. This project aims to provide robust results of NHP optogenetics in the vestibular system through in-vivo injection of an opsin adenovirus to key interconnected vestibular cortical and subcortical areas: the parietoinsular vestibular cortex (PIVC) and the vestibular nuclei in the brainstem of cynomolgus macaques. We can determine the efficacy and specificity of our vectors, chosen based on anatomical differences between the target regions, and evaluate opsin expression using histological methods such as immunohistochemistry and fluorescence microscopy. With the confirmation of histological expression, this project will open the door to confidently employing optogenetic methods to study vestibular electrophysiology and the behaviours it codes for, as well as to investigate feedback between our cortical and subcortical areas of interest.

Optogenetic expression in the cortical and subcortical areas of the non-human primate vestibular system

McGill University

cortex

optogenetics

brainstem

vestibular

system

immunofluorescence

expression

primate

histology

virus

Tabitha Bethany Jimenez

1

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