New Technology to Visualize Functional Activities of Central Nervous System

Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute developed a new technique to better understand how the central nervous system functions. Researchers combine high-resolution multi-view imaging and calcium imaging data to provide visualization of functional activity taking place inside the entire central nervous system of a larval Drosophila fly.

The technique relies on preparation of the entire central nervous system, a light-sheet microscope as well as the algorithms that process the data to render a 3D image.

The light sheet microscope can scan across the entire sample at a rapid rate The presented system is applicable for biological networks at a scale of up to 800 × 800 × 250 μm3.

Still, the implementation of these techniques may pave the way for the study of advanced vertebrates, and large-scale functional imaging of neural activity, thus providing us also with a new way of evaluating the effects of emerging therapies on the entire central nervous system.



Source-Medindia