Neuronal sensitivity to light stimulation can be a significant
confounding factor for assays that use light to study neuronal
processes, such as optogenetics and fluorescent imaging. While
continuous light stimulation has been shown to be responsible for a
decrease in firing activity in several neuronal subtypes, discontinuous
light stimulation commonly used in optogenetic experiments is supposed
to have a negligible action. In the present report, we experimentally
test this theoretical prediction by evaluating the effect produced by
ten of the most commonly used patterns of discontinuous light
stimulation under several electrophysiological parameters.