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New Approaches to Cognitive Neurobiology: Methods for Two-Photon in Vivo Imaging of Cognitively Active Neurons

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This review addresses the potential of current methods of in vivo two-photon imaging of the activity of neurons involved in episodes of cognitive activity in animals. The principles of fluorescent two-photon microscopy are described and methods for in vivo imaging of neuron activity using calcium indicators of two types – calcium stains and genetically encoded calcium indictors (GECI) – are discussed. A new approach is also considered, using in vivo imaging of genomic activation of cerebral neurons in transgenic animals with fluorescent probes for the expression of the immediate early genes c-fos, Arc, and Egr-1. The main advantages and disadvantages of these approaches are compared and the potentials for the development of in vivo two-photon imaging of neuron activity for studies of the cellular basis of higher brain functions are addressed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Center Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russia

    M. A. Roshchina, O. I. Ivashkina & K. V. Anokhin

  2. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    K. V. Anokhin

  3. Anokhin Research Institute of Normal Physiology, Moscow, Russia

    K. V. Anokhin

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  1. M. A. Roshchina
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  2. O. I. Ivashkina
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  3. K. V. Anokhin
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Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 141–149, March–April 2017.

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Roshchina, M.A., Ivashkina, O.I. & Anokhin, K.V. New Approaches to Cognitive Neurobiology: Methods for Two-Photon in Vivo Imaging of Cognitively Active Neurons. Neurosci Behav Physi 48, 741–746 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-018-0625-1

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