KEYWORDS: Calcium, Fluorescence, Proteins, Action potentials, Signal to noise ratio, Photometry, Neurophotonics, Neurons, In vivo imaging, Chromophores
SignificanceGenetically encoded calcium ion (Ca2+) indicators (GECIs) are powerful tools for monitoring intracellular Ca2+ concentration changes in living cells and model organisms. In particular, GECIs have found particular utility for monitoring the transient increase of Ca2+ concentration that is associated with the neuronal action potential. However, the palette of highly optimized GECIs for imaging of neuronal activity remains relatively limited. Expanding the selection of available GECIs to include new colors and distinct photophysical properties could create new opportunities for in vitro and in vivo fluorescence imaging of neuronal activity. In particular, blue-shifted variants of GECIs are expected to have enhanced two-photon brightness, which would facilitate multiphoton microscopy.AimWe describe the development and applications of T-GECO1—a high-performance blue-shifted GECI based on the Clavularia sp.-derived mTFP1.ApproachWe use protein engineering and extensive directed evolution to develop T-GECO1. We characterize the purified protein and assess its performance in vitro using one-photon excitation in cultured rat hippocampal neurons, in vivo using one-photon excitation fiber photometry in mice, and ex vivo using two-photon Ca2+ imaging in hippocampal slices.ResultsThe Ca2+-bound state of T-GECO1 has an excitation peak maximum of 468 nm, an emission peak maximum of 500 nm, an extinction coefficient of 49,300 M−1 cm−1, a quantum yield of 0.83, and two-photon brightness approximately double that of EGFP. The Ca2+-dependent fluorescence increase is 15-fold, and the apparent Kd for Ca2+ is 82 nM. With two-photon excitation conditions at 850 nm, T-GECO1 consistently enabled the detection of action potentials with higher signal-to-noise (SNR) than a late generation GCaMP variant.ConclusionsT-GECO1 is a high-performance blue-shifted GECI that, under two-photon excitation conditions, provides advantages relative to late generation GCaMP variants.
Understanding the causal relations between neuronal activity and behavior is one of the grand challenges of modern neuroscience. From a theoretical point of view, the requirements for reverse engineering the brain architecture are clear: we need to (1) measure neuronal activity from several individual cells, from which we can make hypothesis on their function; (2) manipulate (activate or inhibit) the same cells to test the accuracy of the hypothesis; (3) doing all this in animals during natural behavior. Two-photon (2P) micro-endoscopy could be the technological answer to these urgent needs and is today a thriving research field. However, 2P micro-endoscopy has so far focused on imaging neuronal activity, rather than manipulating it at will, which limits the ability to directly test possible causal links with behavior.
To overcome this limitation, we have developed a new two-photon fiber bundle-based micro-endoscope (2P-FENDO) for the simultaneous functional imaging and optogenetic photostimulation of neurons in freely moving mice. By using computer generated holography, 2P-FENDO is capable of 2P optogenetic photostimulation of several neurons at once with cellular resolution. By optimising excitation and collection efficiencies, 2P-FENDO performs 2P functional imaging at one of the highest speeds so far demonstrated through an endoscope. Key novelty behind these results is the discovery that the fiber bundle, composed of ~15000 individual fiber cores, acts as a temporal multiplexing device, separating the laser pulses from each core in time of the right amount to avoid out of focus 2P fluorescence. This property results in a good axial resolution (< 15 µm) independently of the laser spot size.
Proof-of-principle experiments were performed in head restrained and freely moving mice co-expressing jGcaMP7s and the opsin ChRmine in the visual or barrel cortex. On a field of view of 250 µm in diameter, we demonstrated functional imaging at a frame rate of up to 100 Hz and precise photostimulation of single and multiple cells (up to ~ 15, limited by the laser power, which could readily be increased with a more powerful photostimulation laser). With the capability to simultaneously image and control neuronal activity at single-cell resolution in freely moving animals, 2P-FENDO will enable to precisely define the functions of neurons in the brain and their interactions during naturalistic behaviours.
Neurophotonics was launched in 2014 coinciding with the launch of the BRAIN Initiative focused on development of technologies for advancement of neuroscience. For the last seven years, Neurophotonics’ agenda has been well aligned with this focus on neurotechnologies featuring new optical methods and tools applicable to brain studies. While the BRAIN Initiative 2.0 is pivoting towards applications of these novel tools in the quest to understand the brain, in this article we review an extensive and diverse toolkit of novel methods to explore brain function that have emerged from the BRAIN Initiative and related large-scale efforts for measurement and manipulation of brain structure and function. Here, we focus on neurophotonic tools mostly applicable to animal studies. A companion article, scheduled to appear later this year, will cover diffuse optical imaging methods applicable to noninvasive human studies. For each domain, we outline the current state-of-the-art of the respective technologies, identify the areas where innovation is needed and provide an outlook for the future directions.
Optical wavefront shaping is a powerful technique to control the distribution of light in the focus of a microscope. Combined with optogenetics, it holds great promise for a precise manipulation of neuronal activity with light.
A better understanding of complex brain circuits however, requires advanced and flexible optical methods capable of simultaneously photo-exciting multiple neurons, possibly using dedicated excitation shapes, arbitrarily distributed in the three dimensions, with single-cell resolution. At the same time, the study of deep brain structures with all optical techniques, even in the multi-photon regime, is limited by scattering to a depth of few hundreds µm.
Here we first present a new optical scheme, based on the spatio-temporal shaping of a pulsed laser beam, to project several tens of spatially confined two photon excitation patterns in a large volume. Using two spatial light modulators and the temporal focusing technique we are able to produce at least 4 different extended excitation patterns, with single cell axial confinement, that we independently multiplex at the sample volume an arbitrary number of times. We fully characterise the optical response of the system, discuss the possibility of simplifying it at the expenses of flexibility, and subsequently exploit it to perform multi-cell volumetric excitation in both Drosophila and zebrafish larvae. Finally, we summarise our recent efforts towards the extension of such method to a micro endoscope, which could be used for the study of complex neural circuits in deep brain structures, thus overcoming the limitations imposed by scattering.
Electrical properties of neuronal processes are extraordinarily complex, dynamic, and, in the general case, impossible to predict in the absence of detailed measurements. To obtain such a measurement one would, ideally, like to be able to monitor electrical subthreshold events as they travel from synapses on distal dendrites and summate at particular locations to initiate action potentials. It is now possible to carry out these measurements at the scale of individual dendritic spines using voltage imaging. In these measurements, the voltage-sensitive probes can be thought of as transmembrane voltmeters with a linear scale, which directly monitor electrical signals. Grinvald et al. were important early contributors to the methodology of voltage imaging, and they pioneered some of its significant results. We combined voltage imaging and glutamate uncaging using computer-generated holography. The results demonstrated that patterned illumination, by reducing the surface area of illuminated membrane, reduces photodynamic damage. Additionally, region-specific illumination practically eliminated the contamination of optical signals from individual spines by the scattered light from the parent dendrite. Finally, patterned illumination allowed one-photon uncaging of glutamate on multiple spines to be carried out in parallel with voltage imaging from the parent dendrite and neighboring spines.
Genetically encoded light-sensitive channels and reporters enable both neuronal activity optical control and read-out. Full explotation of these optogenetic tools requires single-cell scale methods to pattern light into neural tissue.
Computer Generated Holography (CGH) can powerfully enhance optogenetic stimulation by efficiently shaping light onto multiple cellular targets. However, a linear proportionality between lateral shape area and axial extent degrades axial precision for cases demanding extended lateral patterning i.e., to cover entire soma of multiple cells. To address this limitation, we previously combined CGH with temporal focusing (TF) to stretch laser pulses outside of the focal plane, which combined with two-photon’s nonlinear fluorescence dependence, axially confines fluorescence regardless of lateral extent. However, this configuration restricts nonlinear excitation to a single spatiotemporal focal plane: which is the objective focal plane.
Here we demonstrate a novel scheme enabling generation of spatiotemporally focused pattern generation in three dimensions. We demonstrate that this approach enables simultaneous photoconversion of tens of zebrafish larvae spinal cord neurons occupying separate axial planes.
Two-photon (2P) excitation can be combined with phase-modulation approaches, such as computer-generated holography (CGH), to efficiently distribute light into two-dimensional, axially confined, user-defined shapes. Applications include lithography, uncaging, optogenetics and fast functional imaging. However, a linear proportionality between lateral shape area and axial extent degrades axial precision for cases demanding extended lateral patterning.To address this limitation, we previously combined CGH with temporal focusing (TF) to stretch laser pulses outside of the focal plane, which combined with 2P’s nonlinear fluorescence dependence, axially confines fluorescence regardless of lateral extent. However, this configuration restricts nonlinear excitation to a single spatiotemporal focal plane, which is the objective focal plane.
Here we report a novel optical scheme enabling remote axial displacement and simultaneous generation of spatiotemporally focused pattern at multiple planes using two spatial light modulators to independently control transverse- and axial-target light distribution. This approach enabled simultaneous axial translation of single or multiple spatiotemporal focused patterns across the sample volume, while achieving the axial confinement of temporal focusing. We utilized the system's novel capability to dissect the functional connectivity between axially distinct neuronal layers in the mice retina.
Finally, we demonstrated that TF enables robust light propagation trough optically and physiologically diverse neural systems including mice brain, zebrafish larva brain and mice retina.
Emerging all-optical methods provide unique possibilities for noninvasive studies of physiological processes at the cellular and subcellular scale. On the one hand, superresolution microscopy enables observation of living samples with nanometer resolution. On the other hand, light can be used to stimulate cells due to the advent of optogenetics and photolyzable neurotransmitters. To exploit the full potential of optical stimulation, light must be delivered to specific cells or even parts of cells such as dendritic spines. This can be achieved with computer generated holography (CGH), which shapes light to arbitrary patterns by phase-only modulation. We demonstrate here in detail how CGH can be incorporated into a stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscope for photostimulation of neurons and monitoring of nanoscale morphological changes. We implement an original optical system to allow simultaneous holographic photostimulation and superresolution STED imaging. We present how synapses can be clearly visualized in live cells using membrane stains either with lipophilic organic dyes or with fluorescent proteins. We demonstrate the capabilities of this microscope to precisely monitor morphological changes of dendritic spines after stimulation. These all-optical methods for cell stimulation and monitoring are expected to spread to various fields of biological research in neuroscience and beyond.
Voltage-sensitive fluorescence indicators enable tracking neuronal electrical signals simultaneously in multiple neurons or neuronal subcompartments difficult to access with patch electrodes. However, efficient widefield epifluorescence detection of rapid voltage fluorescence transients necessitates that imaged cells and structures lie sufficiently far from other labeled structures to avoid contamination from out of focal plane and scattered light. We overcame this limitation by exciting dye fluorescence with one-photon computer-generated holography shapes contoured to axons or dendrites of interest, enabling widefield detection of voltage fluorescence with high spatial specificity. By shaping light onto neighboring axons and dendrites, we observed that dendritic back-propagating action potentials were broader and slowly rising compared with axonal action potentials, differences not measured in the same structures illuminated with a large “pseudowidefield” (pWF) spot of the same excitation density. Shaped illumination trials showed reduced baseline fluorescence, higher baseline noise, and fractional fluorescence transient amplitudes two times greater than trials acquired with pWF illumination of the same regions.
Multiphoton excitation has recently found application in the fields of bioimaging, uncaging and lithography. In
order to fully exploit the advantages of nonlinear excitation, in particular the axial resolution due to nonlinearity,
most systems to date operate with point or multipoint excitation, while scanning either the laser beam or the
sample to generate the illumination pattern. Here we combine the recently introduced technique of scanningless
multiphoton excitation by temporal focusing with recent advances in digital holography to generate arbitrarily
shaped, depth resolved, two-dimensional excitation patterns completely without scanning. This is of particular
importance in applications requiring uniform excitation of large areas over short time scales, such as neuronal
activation by multiphoton uncaging of neurotransmitters. We present an experimental and theoretical analysis of
the effect of spatial patterning on the depth resolution achieved in temporal focusing microscopy. It is shown that
the depth resolution for holographic excitation is somewhat worse than that achieved for uniform illumination.
This is also accompanied by the appearance of a speckle pattern at the temporal focal plane. The origin of the
two effects, as well as means to overcome them, are discussed.
We present the multi trap optical tweezers system that enables to generate two-dimensional dynamical configurations of focal spot where the trapping force of each element can be individually changed. We apply the system to investigate how substrate rigidity affects the strength of the integrin-extracellular matrix adhesion in living cells. Adhesion sites of different rigidity are mimicked by simultaneously attaching on cell cortex beads held by optical traps of different stiffness. We monitor the effect induced by the local rigidity on cell adhesion by looking at vinculin recruitment in GFP-Vin transfected HeLa cell. To this end the optical tweezers system is inserted in an epifluorescence inverted microscope.
We present an experimental system based on the use of a spatial light modulator which enables to perform simultaneously 3D optical manipulation and optical sectioning. This has been achieved by modifying the wave front of the trapping beam with properly diffractive optical elements displayed on a computer controlled spatial light modulator. We demonstrated the capability of the system in two experimental schemes, in a first one we performed a 3D optical scanning of 6 trapped beads by displacing the beads through a fixed imaging plane. In a second one we scan the imaging plane and simultaneously compensate for the movement of the objective in order to keep the trapping plane at a fixed position.
We have developed a holographic optical tweezers system based on diffractive optical elements (DOES) implemented
on a liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) able to generate fine positioned traps on the sample. Our own
algorithms and code allows to calculate phase DOES that can transform a single laser beam into an array of independent
traps, each with individually specified characteristics, arranged in arbitrary three-dimensional (3D) geometrical
configurations. Different DOEs can be dynamically projected to the SLM in order to achieve a rearrangement of the
configuration of the trapping spots. Silica or latex micro-beads are trapped in different configurations of spots to
demonstrate the fine control capability on each trap. Our setup is built on a standard video microscope coupled with a
laser source, a spatial light modulator and a three axis nano-positioning system. It allows to obtain 3D multi-trapping
and a fine calibration for the positioning of the traps.
The use of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) for multiple trapping of dielectric micro-spheres immersed in a fluid has been demonstrated recently. When the DOEs are implemented on a spatial light modulator (SLM), the trapped particles can be independently moved by changing the configuration of the DOE. In this paper we demonstrate phase DOEs implemented on an optical addressable SLM to move an array of trapped particles in a volume of about 20x20x6 μm. Experimental results show the usefulness of this technique for particle micromanipulation in biology.
Carrier dynamics in single quasi-1D GaAs quantum wires are studied in a wide temperature range by near-field scanning optical microscopy using pico- and femtosecond pulses. Luminescence and pump-probe experiments with a spatial resolution of 250 nm and a time resolution of up to 200 fs allow for a separation of carrier transport along the quantum wire and in the embedding GaAs quantum well from local carrier relaxation phenomena. We demonstrate that local potential barriers close to the quantum wire strongly affect the lateral carrier transport into the quantum wire. This drift-diffusive motion occurs in the pico- to nanosecond regime with diffusion lengths of up to several microns. Diffusive transport along the quantum wire is characterized by carrier motion on a somewhat shorter picosecond time scale. In contrast, sub-picosecond relaxation times are found for the redistribution of carriers from high-lying to low-lying quantum wire states. This relaxation is governed by electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering.
The role of surface states in reducing the radiative efficiency of a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well (QW), situated in proximity of the surface, has been investigated. The near-surface QW photoluminescence (PL) was utilized as a probe of the effects of room-temperature hydrogen irradiation and of the subsequent evolution of the system in time. The e1 - hh1 PL at 1.4 K of various near-surface wells, differing in distance from the surface, was found to drop when the AlGaAs barrier was made thinner than 150 angstroms, due to short-circuiting recombination processes at the surface. The data were interpreted in terms of electron and hole tunneling to surface states. A study of the stability of the passivation effect -- samples being investigated again after an eight-month-long exposure to air, or after annealing in vacuum -- is indicative of important changes in the lifetimes of the different radiative and non-radiative processes associated with the well.
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