title: In Vivo Mesoscopic Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging of Brain Activation.
abstract: Functional mapping of brain activity is important in elucidating how neural networks operate in the living brain. The whisker sensory system of rodents is an excellent model to study peripherally evoked neural activity in the central nervous system. Each facial whisker is represented by discrete modules of neurons all along the pathway leading to the neocortex. These modules are called "barrels" in layer 4 of the primary somatosensory cortex. Their location (approximately 300-500 μm below cortical surface) allows for convenient imaging of whisker-evoked neural activity in vivo. Fluorescence laminar optical tomography (FLOT) provides depth-resolved fluorescence molecular information with an imaging depth of a few millimeters. Angled illumination and detection configurations can improve both resolution and penetration depth. We applied angled FLOT (aFLOT) to record 3D neural activities evoked in the whisker system of mice by deflection of a single whisker in vivo. A 100 μm capillary and a pair of microelectrodes were inserted to the mouse brain to test the capability of the imaging system. The results show that it is possible to obtain 3D functional maps of the sensory periphery in the brain. This approach can be broadly applicable to functional imaging of other brain structures.
authors.affiliation: Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.
authors.forename: Qinggong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.|Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201 USA.
authors.forename: Vassiliy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tsytsarev
authors.affiliation: Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.
authors.forename: Yalun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.
authors.forename: Chao-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201 USA.
authors.forename: Reha S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Erzurumlu
authors.affiliation: Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D056969:Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging / Q000379:methods*