An open-source replication for fast and accessible light propagation modeling in brain tissue

Abstract

Light simulations hold great potential for advancing optical techniques in neuroscience. They facilitate the in-silico refinement of optical stimulator designs and enable simulations of optical recordings from computational brain models, aiding neuroscience in forming a mechanistic understanding of brain circuitry. However, many published light models are inaccessible due to unavailable source code and documentation or are impractical due to excessive computational demands. To address these challenges, we replicate and enhance the efficient and accurate light simulation model by Yona et al. [1], which was previously available only in compiled form accompanied by sparse documentation. In this work, we resolve ambiguities in the original model, correct errors that caused discrepancies between simulations and published results, improve computational efficiency by an order of magnitude, and open-source all the resulting code and detailed documentation. These enhancements enable simulations of cortical volumes exceeding 1 mm3 to run in seconds on standard laptop hardware. Our model software provides an accessible, adaptable, and rapid light simulation tool, which adheres to FAIR principles to ensure future-proof and broad utility for the neuroscience community.