Simultaneous whole-animal 3D imaging of neuronal activity using light-field microscopy

Abstract

This paper reports the use of light-field microscopy for fast, large-scale imaging of neuronal activity in vivo. It is applied to image the entire animal in the worm and the whole brain in zebrafish. High-speed, large-scale three-dimensional (3D) imaging of neuronal activity poses a major challenge in neuroscience. Here we demonstrate simultaneous functional imaging of neuronal activity at single-neuron resolution in an entire Caenorhabditis elegans and in larval zebrafish brain. Our technique captures the dynamics of spiking neurons in volumes of ∼700 μm × 700 μm × 200 μm at 20 Hz. Its simplicity makes it an attractive tool for high-speed volumetric calcium imaging.