Abstract
We present a method to form an optical window in the mouse skull that spans millimeters and is stable for months without causing brain inflammation. This enabled us to repeatedly image blood flow in cortical capillaries of awake mice and determine long-range correlations in speed. We also repeatedly imaged dendritic spines, microglia and angioarchitecture, as well as used illumination to drive motor output via optogenetics and induce microstrokes via photosensitizers.
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Acknowledgements
We thank B. Friedman, C. Portera-Cailliau and K. Svoboda for critical comments on an early version of the manuscript, M. Fuentes and C. Petersen for advice on head fixation, D.N. Hill for discussions on data analysis, J. Lee and K. Yang for help with animal husbandry, J.D. Moore for discussions on optical stimulation, and S. Tayman for a gift of tin oxide. This work was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (EB003832, MH085499, NS059832 and RR021907 to D.K., and NS066361 to K.A.) and the Dana Program in Brain and Immuno-imaging (to K.A.) and fellowships from the Israeli Science Foundation (to P.B.), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and American Heart Association (to A.Y.S.), the Human Frontiers Scientific Program (to P.M.K.), and the US National Multiple Sclerosis Society (to D.D.).
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P.J.D., A.Y.S. and P.S.T. conceived the PoRTS window; J.D.D. and D.K. developed the imaging tools; K.A., D.D., P.J.D., D.K., A.Y.S. and P.S.T. designed the experiments; P.J.D., P.M.K., A.Y.S. and P.S.T. carried out the experiments; P.B., P.J.D., D.K. and P.S.T. analyzed data; and P.J.D., D.K. and A.Y.S. wrote the manuscript.
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Drew, P., Shih, A., Driscoll, J. et al. Chronic optical access through a polished and reinforced thinned skull. Nat Methods 7, 981–984 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1530
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1530
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