Tracking neurons across days with high-density probes.

Abstract

Neural activity spans multiple time scales, from milliseconds to months. Its evolution can be recorded with chronic high-density arrays such as Neuropixels probes, which can measure each spike at tens of sites and record hundreds of neurons. These probes produce vast amounts of data that require different approaches for tracking neurons across recordings. Here, to meet this need, we developed UnitMatch, a pipeline that operates after spike sorting, based only on each unit's average spike waveform. We tested UnitMatch in Neuropixels recordings from the mouse brain, where it tracked neurons across weeks. Across the brain, neurons had distinctive inter-spike interval distributions. Their correlations with other neurons remained stable over weeks. In the visual cortex, the neurons' selectivity for visual stimuli remained similarly stable. In the striatum, however, neuronal responses changed across days during learning of a task. UnitMatch is thus a promising tool to reveal both invariance and plasticity in neural activity across days.