Neuron
Volume 72, Issue 5, 8 December 2011, Pages 859-872
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Article
Modeling the Spatial Reach of the LFP

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2011.11.006Get rights and content
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Summary

The local field potential (LFP) reflects activity of many neurons in the vicinity of the recording electrode and is therefore useful for studying local network dynamics. Much of the nature of the LFP is, however, still unknown. There are, for instance, contradicting reports on the spatial extent of the region generating the LFP. Here, we use a detailed biophysical modeling approach to investigate the size of the contributing region by simulating the LFP from a large number of neurons around the electrode. We find that the size of the generating region depends on the neuron morphology, the synapse distribution, and the correlation in synaptic activity. For uncorrelated activity, the LFP represents cells in a small region (within a radius of a few hundred micrometers). If the LFP contributions from different cells are correlated, the size of the generating region is determined by the spatial extent of the correlated activity.

Highlights

► The spatial reach of the LFP is activity dependent ► Spatial reach of local field potential is 200–300 μm with uncorrelated synapses ► For correlated synaptic inputs the reach is set by spatial extent of correlations ► In vivo-like network model mimicking sensory column is in correlated regime

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