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

TL;DR

This paper introduces a light-field microscopy technique combined with 3D deconvolution for simultaneous, high-resolution 3D imaging of neuronal activity in entire small organisms like C. elegans, enabling fast, volumetric calcium imaging.

Contribution

The study presents a simple, integrable light-field microscopy method for real-time 3D functional imaging of neuronal activity at single-cell resolution in whole organisms.

Findings

Achieved simultaneous volumetric imaging of neuronal activity in C. elegans.

Demonstrated high-speed, single-cell resolution calcium imaging.

Technique can be integrated into existing epi-fluorescence microscopes.

Abstract

3D functional imaging of neuronal activity in entire organisms at single cell level and physiologically relevant time scales faces major obstacles due to trade-offs between the size of the imaged volumes, and spatial and temporal resolution. Here, using light-field microscopy in combination with 3D deconvolution, we demonstrate intrinsically simultaneous volumetric functional imaging of neuronal population activity at single neuron resolution for an entire organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The simplicity of our technique and possibility of the integration into epi-fluoresence microscopes makes it an attractive tool for high-speed volumetric calcium imaging.