Neuron
Volume 80, Issue 4, 20 November 2013, Pages 900-913
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Chronic Cellular Imaging of Entire Cortical Columns in Awake Mice Using Microprisms

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.07.052Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Microprisms allow simultaneous chronic subcellular imaging across all cortical layers

  • Histology, imaging, and electrophysiology confirm viability of neurons near the prism

  • In mouse V1, retinotopy has columnar organization but orientation preference does not

  • Diverse effects of locomotion on endogenous neural activity across layers of mouse V1

Summary

Two-photon imaging of cortical neurons in vivo has provided unique insights into the structure, function, and plasticity of cortical networks, but this method does not currently allow simultaneous imaging of neurons in the superficial and deepest cortical layers. Here, we describe a simple modification that enables simultaneous, long-term imaging of all cortical layers. Using a chronically implanted glass microprism in barrel cortex, we could image the same fluorescently labeled deep-layer pyramidal neurons across their entire somatodendritic axis for several months. We could also image visually evoked and endogenous calcium activity in hundreds of cell bodies or long-range axon terminals, across all six layers in visual cortex of awake mice. Electrophysiology and calcium imaging of evoked and endogenous activity near the prism face were consistent across days and comparable with previous observations. These experiments extend the reach of in vivo two-photon imaging to chronic, simultaneous monitoring of entire cortical columns.

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These authors contributed equally to this work