Skin suturing and cortical surface viral infusion improves imaging of neuronal ensemble activity with head-mounted miniature microscopes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In vivo optical imaging of neural activity provides important insights into brain functions at the single-cell level. Cranial windows and virally delivered calcium indicators are commonly used for imaging cortical activity through two-photon microscopes in head-fixed animals. Recently, head-mounted one-photon microscopes have been developed for freely behaving animals. However, minimizing tissue damage from the virus injection procedure and maintaining window clarity for imaging can be technically challenging.

New method

We used a wide-diameter glass pipette at the cortical surface for infusing the viral calcium reporter AAV-GCaMP6 into the cortex. After infusion, the scalp skin over the implanted optical window was sutured to facilitate postoperative recovery. Th

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5650079 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature