Transcranial cortex-wide Ca2+ imaging for the functional mapping of cortical dynamics
Serika Yamada, Yan Wang, Hiromu Monai
Abstract
Visualization and tracking of the information flow in the broader brain area are essential because nerve cells make a vast network in the brain. Fluorescence Ca 2+ imaging is a simultaneous visualization of brain cell activities in a wide area. Instead of classical chemical indicators, developing various types of transgenic animals that express Ca 2+ -sensitive fluorescent proteins enables us to observe brain activities in living animals at a larger scale for a long time. Multiple kinds of literature have reported that transcranial imaging of such transgenic animals is practical for monitoring the wide-field information flow across the broad brain regions, although it has a lower spatial resolution. Notably, this technique is helpful for the initial evaluation of cortical function in disease models. This review will introduce fully intact transcranial macroscopic imaging and cortex-wide Ca 2+ imaging as practical applications.