中国科学院脑科学与智能技术卓越创新中心王凯研究团队，利用共聚焦光场显微镜对小鼠大脑神经元群进行体积电压成像。2024年10月8日出版的《自然—方法学》杂志发表了这一研究成果。

据介绍，电压成像可直接测量神经元活动，这有助于了解单个神经元和整个神经元群的信息处理过程。然而，由于同时需要较高的成像速度和信噪比、较大的体积覆盖范围和较低的光漂白率，对大量神经元群进行电压成像具有挑战性。

为了克服对大量神经元群进行电压成像的难题，研究人员研发了一种共聚焦光场显微镜，通过采用速度增强型相机、快速稳定的扫描机制、激光斑点噪声消除和优化光效，该显微镜在速度和信噪性能方面超越了之前的限制。

利用这种方法，研究人员在小鼠直径800微米、厚180微米的皮层体积内同时记录了300多个尖峰神经元，观察时间超过了20分钟。通过整合空间和电压活动曲线，研究人员绘制了清醒小鼠大脑的三维神经协调模式图。该方法拓宽了体积电压成像的常规应用范围。

附：英文原文

Title: Volumetric voltage imaging of neuronal populations in the mouse brain by confocal light-field microscopy

Author: Bai, Lu, Cong, Lin, Shi, Ziqi, Zhao, Yuchen, Zhang, Yujie, Lu, Bin, Zhang, Jing, Xiong, Zhi-Qi, Xu, Ninglong, Mu, Yu, Wang, Kai

Issue&Volume: 2024-10-08

Abstract: Voltage imaging measures neuronal activity directly and holds promise for understanding information processing within individual neurons and across populations. However, imaging voltage over large neuronal populations has been challenging owing to the simultaneous requirements of high imaging speed and signal-to-noise ratio, large volume coverage and low photobleaching rate. Here, to overcome this challenge, we developed a confocal light-field microscope that surpassed the traditional limits in speed and noise performance by incorporating a speed-enhanced camera, a fast and robust scanning mechanism, laser-speckle-noise elimination and optimized light efficiency. With this method, we achieved simultaneous recording from more than 300 spiking neurons within an 800-μm-diameter and 180-μm-thick volume in the mouse cortex, for more than 20min. By integrating the spatial and voltage activity profiles, we have mapped three-dimensional neural coordination patterns in awake mouse brains. Our method is robust for routine application in volumetric voltage imaging.

DOI: 10.1038/s41592-024-02458-5

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-024-02458-5