An integrated calcium imaging processing toolbox for the analysis of neuronal population dynamics

SEBASTIAN A. ROMANO; VERÓNICA PÉREZ SCHUSTER; ADRIEN JOUARY; JONATHAN BOULANGER-WEILL; ALESSIA CANDEO; GERMAN SUMBRE

PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2017

1553-734X

The development of new imaging and optogenetics techniques to study the dynamicsof large neuronal circuits is generating datasets of unprecedented volume andcomplexity, demanding the development of appropriate analysis tools. We present acomprehensive computational workflow for the analysis of neuronal population calciumdynamics. The toolbox includes newly developed algorithms and interactive tools forimage pre-processing and segmentation, estimation of significant single-neuron singletrialsignals, mapping event-related neuronal responses, detection of activity-correlatedneuronal clusters, exploration of population dynamics, and analysis of clusters´features against surrogate control datasets. The modules are integrated in a modularand versatile processing pipeline, adaptable to different needs. The clustering moduleis capable of detecting flexible, dynamically activated neuronal assemblies, consistentwith the distributed population coding of the brain. We demonstrate the suitability of thetoolbox for a variety of calcium imaging datasets. The toolbox open-source code, astep-by-step tutorial and a case study dataset are available atwww.zebrain.biologie.ens.fr/codes.