Investigating neural activity through Event Related Optical

Signal (EROS)
Angeline Alfred
Jason Huang
Chen Ying

Event Related Optical Signal (EROS), is a decade old technology developed by Dr.
Gabriele Gratton and Dr. Monida Fabiani. It uses near infrared light to measure the light
absorption and scattering of the brain when the neurons are active. Because of this effect
EROS provides a more direct measurement of the cellular activity compared to other imaging
methods such as diffuse optical imaging and MIR. A brief overview of the process, advantages
and limitations.
EROS is a fast optical signal imaging method that uses near infrared light (NIR) to
provide spatio-temporal maps of the brain. Essentially, NIR light is shone through the skull and
changes in the intensity of light or the time it takes photons to move through the head tissue is
measured. The key breakthrough with this technology is the absorption and scattering of the
tissue helps researchers assess the neural and hemodynamics responses that result from brain
activity. Since optical signals are confined to only a few millimeters it is possible to measure the
time estimates of brain activities in specific areas.
The signal from the EROS has a depth penetration around 3 to 4 centimeters. Although
this can be ideal when conducting experiment on mice, for a human being, it only allows access
to the cortical areas which mainly consists of the cerebral cortex. Researchers want a larger
penetration depth to study the sub-cortical areas. A particular area of interest is the
hippocampus, which controls memory. It is nearly impossible to study the cellular activity within
the hippocampus. The main obstacle to the passage of the NIR light is the head tissue, which
diffuses light to a very high degree and lowers the penetration depth. New methodologies are
required to achieve deeper penetration.
For this research project, our team is focused on improving the depth penetration of
EROS to enable scientists and researchers to better understand deeper parts within the brain.
Our team plans to achieve this by inserting opsin genes into the brain. Opsin genes are
photoreceptors located in the eye that send an electrical signal through light stimuli. The team

proposes to insert the genes into certain areas of the brain and electrically stimulate the gene to
emit light. In order to stimulate the opsin gene to send a light signal, the team recommends to
use synapses to electrically stimulate the gene. The EROS technology has the potential to pick
up the signal generated by the gene enabling cellular monitoring of deep tissues.