Ca2+ imaging articles from across Nature Portfolio

A real-time analysis system was developed for an up to 500-megabyte-per-second image stream. This system can extract activities from up to 100,000 neurons in larval zebrafish brains and enables closed-loop perturbations of brain-wide neural dynamics at cellular resolution.

The authors propose a new method for two-photon microscopy that can produce large cranial windows covering both the cerebrum and cerebellum of mice. The windows maintain transparency for over 5 months and allow multi-scale two-photon imaging of neuronal structures and functions in awake mice.

Current systems for imaging calcium dynamics in the brains of non-human primates require the animal’s movement to be restricted. Here, the authors demonstrate a mesoscale calcium imaging device in a freely moving non-human primate which features a 20 mm² field of view.

The GRIN lenses widely used for deep brain functional imaging suffer from a small measurement field of view due to strong fourth-order astigmatism. Here the authors report Geometric Transformation Adaptive Optics (GTAO) that corrects field-dependent astigmatism and enables large-volume in vivo imaging of deep mouse brain through 0.5 mm GRIN lenses.

Fluorescence imaging of the spinal cord poses challenges, including depth of imaging. Here the authors describe a custom microscope and chronically implanted microprism that enables multicolor translaminar imaging of sensory and motor evoked activity in behaving mice, and show that spinal astrocytes show sensorimotor program-dependent calcium excitation.

Two miniature microscopes with innovative light paths are described and applied to imaging of juvenile zebra finches and mice.

Sensors show calcium movement in tiny, cellular antennae.