title: Acousto-optic laser scanning for multi-site photo-stimulation of single neurons in vitro.
abstract: To study the complex synaptic interactions underpinning dendritic information processing in single neurons, experimenters require methods to mimic presynaptic neurotransmitter release at multiple sites with no physiological damage. We show that laser scanning systems built around large-aperture acousto-optic deflectors and high numerical aperture objective lenses provide the sub-millisecond, sub-micron precision necessary to achieve physiological, exogenous synaptic stimulation. Our laser scanning systems can produce the sophisticated spatio-temporal patterns of synaptic input that are necessary to investigate single-neuron dendritic physiology.
authors.affiliation: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Bradley E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Losavio
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Iyer
authors.forename: Saumil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saggau
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D008027:Light; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity