title: Innovations in the imaging of brain functions using fluorescent proteins.
abstract: Fluorescence imaging has enabled us to decipher spatiotemporal information coded in complex tissues. Genetically encoded probes that enable fluorescence imaging of excitable cell activity have been constructed by fusing fluorescent proteins to functional proteins that are involved in physiological signaling. The probes are introduced into an intact organism and targeted to specific tissues, cell types, or subcellular compartments, thereby allowing specific signals to be extracted more efficiently than was previously possible. In this primer, I will describe how this approach has met neuroscientists' demands and desires.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, Advanced Technology Development Group, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-city, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan. matsushi@brain.riken.jp
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyawaki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006801:Humans; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins