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Optical detection of high-frequency electrical oscillations in freely behaving animals

Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2025)Cite this article

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Healthy brains generate electrical field oscillations whose frequencies range from infra-slow (<0.1 Hz) to ripples (~150 Hz), each associated with distinct cognitive and behavioural states. High-frequency (>10 Hz) rhythms are integral to many cognitive processes and have been detected across brain areas and in various mammals, including humans. The prevailing hypothesis suggests they represent the coordinated dynamics of many electrically active cell types, but the precise mechanisms by which cell-type interactions shape rhythmic synchronization remain unclear.

Light-based fibre photometry, in combination with fluorescent genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs), enables the study of neuronal membrane voltage dynamics in unconstrained, behaving animals; however, current systems lack the sensitivity to detect cognitively relevant brain rhythms (whose amplitude decreases as frequency increases) with frequencies beyond ~10 Hz without substantial trial averaging. This technological limitation has left unresolved how specific neuron types coordinate the real-time temporal dynamics of high-frequency oscillations.

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References

Original article

  • Haziza, S. et al. Imaging high-frequency voltage dynamics in multiple neuron classes of behaving mammals. Cell 188, 4401–4423 (2025)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. James H. Clark Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Simon Haziza

  2. CNC Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Simon Haziza

  3. Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Simon Haziza

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  1. Simon Haziza
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Correspondence to Simon Haziza.

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S.H. is an inventor on two pending US patents (US20240426754A1 and US20250064309A1).

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Cite this article

Haziza, S. Optical detection of high-frequency electrical oscillations in freely behaving animals. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-025-00980-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-025-00980-9

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