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Thinned-skull cranial window technique for long-term imaging of the cortex in live mice.

ABSTRACT: Imaging neurons, glia and vasculature in the living brain has become an important experimental tool for understanding how the brain works. Here we describe in detail a protocol for imaging cortical structures at high optical resolution through a thinned-skull cranial window in live mice using two-photon laser scanning microscopy (TPLSM). Surgery can be performed within 30-45 min and images can be acquired immediately thereafter. The procedure can be repeated multiple times allowing longitudinal imaging of the cortex over intervals ranging from days to years. Imaging through a thinned-skull cranial window avoids exposure of the meninges and the cortex, thus providing a minimally invasive approach for studying structural and functional changes of cells under normal and pathological conditions in the living brain.

SUBMITTER: Yang G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4690457 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Thinned-skull cranial window technique for long-term imaging of the cortex in live mice.

Yang Guang G Pan Feng F Parkhurst Christopher N CN Grutzendler Jaime J Gan Wen-Biao WB

Nature protocols 20100114 2

Imaging neurons, glia and vasculature in the living brain has become an important experimental tool for understanding how the brain works. Here we describe in detail a protocol for imaging cortical structures at high optical resolution through a thinned-skull cranial window in live mice using two-photon laser scanning microscopy (TPLSM). Surgery can be performed within 30-45 min and images can be acquired immediately thereafter. The procedure can be repeated multiple times allowing longitudinal ...[more]

PMID: 20134419

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