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07 July 2021
Dual-Window Approach Offers Unprecedented View of Brain Dynamics
Combining technologies allows simultaneous imaging close to the surface and deep within the brain in living mice
WASHINGTON — Technologies for imaging the brains of living animals have enabled important scientific advances in recent years. Now, researchers for the first time report an approach that allows simultaneous imaging of multiple areas of the brain at different depths through glass windows implanted in the heads of living mice.
Since brain processes often span multiple regions of the brain, researchers say the new approach could lead to a more complete understanding of how the brain works in both healthy and diseased states.
Many brain functions and neurological diseases are associated with different brain regions. For instance, the memory mechanism involves interaction of the cortex and hippocampus and spontaneous epileptiform activity often spreads from a lesion site to the whole cortex and even to the hippocampus in several seconds.
Chaowei Zhuang from Tsinghua University in Beijing will present the research at the virtual OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress to be held 19-23 July. Zhuang’s presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, 20 July at 20:45 PDT. The congress is co-located with the OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress.
“The method achieves simultaneously imaging the superficial cortex and deep brain regions with a brain-wide field of view, video-rate acquisition and cellular resolution, which matches the requirements needed to fully study these issues,” said Zhuang. “We think this method could promote research of the brain and diseases and bring great discoveries.”
In the new work, researchers demonstrate the ability to take detailed, simultaneous images of structures up to 1 millimeter deep with a field of view 1 millimeter across in the brains of living mice. They accomplished this by removing part of the skull and implanting two separate windows into the brain. The first was a glass plug 2 mm across and 0.9 mm tall. The second was a microprism in the shape of a cube 1 mm across. While both windows can be used to image at different depths, the glass plug provides more detailed view of structures near two horizontal surfaces while the microprism reflects more longitudinal structures of deeper brain tissues with greater clarity.
The key advantage of the method is simultaneously observing near-whole superficial cortex and horizontally or longitudinally monitoring the deep brain tissue, with brain-wide field of view, video-rate acquisition and cellular resolution. Besides that, implanting glass cranial windows is low-cost compared to using graded-index (GRIN) lenses, and is compatible with other wide-field microscopes.
To acquire images of brain structures through these windows, the researchers used Real-time Ultra-large Scale imaging high-resolution macroscopy (RUSH) that offers a one-centimeter field of view, video-rate acquisition and 800nm lateral resolution. While wide-field microscopes are frequently used for brain imaging, they typically can only image to a depth of 200-300 microns. The researchers used their custom-built cranial windows to overcome this limitation and allow simultaneous imaging of deep structures and those near the surface.
The researchers tested their approach by using it to image microglia cells (a type of immune cell found in the brain and central nervous system) in the superficial cortex and hippocampus of living mice. The resulting images show fine details and cellular structures in both regions by implanting the glass plug, even though the cells in the hippocampus are about 0.9 millimeters deeper than those in the superficial cortex. Both images also have a wide field of view, at least 1 millimeter across. In addition, implanting the microprism provides the longitudinal view of the cortex from the depth from 0 to 1mm. The researchers will demonstrate the functional imaging results of neurons in mouse brains in their conference presentation.
“Our lab has focused on cortex-wide single-cell imaging since the development of RUSH,” Zhaung added. “In future work, we will continue to develop new neural imaging techniques with higher throughput, higher SNR, and lower cost. We will also explore new algorithms to understand the mechanisms behind the observed cortex-wide neural dynamics. Finally, we will introduce the method to a wide range of biomedical applications, which requires simultaneous observation of cellular dynamics at different depth, such as the study of epilepsy.”
About the 2021 Imaging and Applied Optics Congress and Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress
The OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress (register) provides a comprehensive view of the latest developments in imaging and applied optical sciences, covering the forefront advances in imaging and applied optics as well as the application of these technologies to important industrial, military and medical challenges. The OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress (register) will provide a forum for both the technical and applications sides of sensors to report the latest optical-based sensor advances, bring together major sensor developers and users, and showcase the latest sensor prototypes and products. These events will be presented in a virtual, web-conference format using a program schedule based on Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, UTC-07:00). Attendees have the option of viewing sessions live or streaming recorded sessions on demand.
About The Optical Society
The Optical Society (OSA) is dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving, and dissemination of knowledge in optics and photonics worldwide. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students, and others interested in the science of light. OSA’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources, and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical, and educational achievement.
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