In mammalian brains, neuronal activity is frequently investigated at cellular and subcellular levels using two-photon laser scanning microscopy imaging. These investigations are still limited to a particular functional area of the brain. A novel method known as the multiarea two-photon real-time in vitro explorer ie, MATRIEX Imaging, was recently reported by researchers.
The technique enabled the user to perform two-photon Ca2+ imaging concurrently with single-cell resolution across multiple functional brain regions with a field of view (FOV) of about 200 m in diameter.
They used mice in anesthetized and awake conditions to perform real-time functional imaging of single-neuron activities in the primary visual cortex, motor cortex, and hippocampal CA1 area. A single laser scanning device can configure numerous microscopic FOVs using the MATRIEX technique.
Therefore, the method does not require additional modifications to be added as an optical module to existing single-beam, two-photon, conventional microscopes. With single-cell precision, MATRIEX imaging can investigate multiarea neuronal activity in vivo for brain-wide neural circuit function.
To investigate neural structures and functions in vivo, neuroscientists developed two-photon laser microscopy in the 1990s. The optical resolution obtained across densely labeled brain tissues, which powerfully scatter light, is one of the main benefits of two-photon and three-photon imaging for living brains. Optically sectioned image pixels can be scanned and captured with little crosstalk during this process.
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