High-throughput spatial light modulation two-photon microscopy for fast functional imaging.

Activity-Induced Long-Term Potentiation of Excitatory Synapses in Developing Zebrafish Retina In Vivo

Two-photon microscopy is often performed at slow frame rates due to the need to serially scan all points in a field of view with a single laser beam. To overcome this problem, we have developed two optical methods that split and multiplex a laser beam across the sample. In the first method a diffractive optical element (DOE) generates a fixed number of beamlets that are scanned in parallel resulting in a corresponding increase in speed or in signal-to-noise ratio in time-lapse measurements. The second method uses a computer-controlled spatial light modulator (SLM) to generate any arbitrary spatio-temporal light pattern. With an SLM one can image or photostimulate any predefined region of the image such as neurons or dendritic spines. In addition, SLMs can be used to mimic a large number of optical transfer functions including light path corrections as adaptive optics.

Two-Photon Imaging in Turbid Media to a Few MM Depths

The posterior parietal cortex exhibits choice-selective activity during perceptual decision-making tasks1-10. However, it is not known how this selective activity arises from the underlying synaptic connectivity. Here we combined virtual-reality behaviour, two-photon calcium imaging, high-throughput electron microscopy and circuit modelling to analyse how synaptic connectivity between neurons in the posterior parietal cortex relates to their selective activity. We found that excitatory pyramidal neurons preferentially target inhibitory interneurons with the same selectivity. In turn, inhibitory interneurons preferentially target pyramidal neurons with opposite selectivity, forming an opponent inhibition motif. This motif was present even between neurons with activity peaks in different task epochs. We developed neural-circuit models of the computations performed by these motifs, and found that opponent inhibition between neural populations with opposite selectivity amplifies selective inputs, thereby improving the encoding of trial-type information. The models also predict that opponent inhibition between neurons with activity peaks in different task epochs contributes to creating choice-specific sequential activity. These results provide evidence for how synaptic connectivity in cortical circuits supports a learned decision-making task.

We present a frequency-multiplexed multi-site two-photon imaging method utilizing amplitude modulation of femtosecond laser pulses in the MHz range to tag each excitation beam and the corresponding fluorescence signals with specific frequencies. The frequency tags are generated with an interferometric setup employing acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) to achieve precise spatial overlap of femtosecond pulses with acoustically-shifted frequencies. Creating matching excitation beam patterns in each interferometer arm using multiple AOD driving frequencies and subsequently overlapping these matching patterns results in multiple excitation beams with unique beat frequencies available for scanning. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate multiplexed two-photon image acquisition using test samples, and compare the performance of this approach to conventional two-photon laser scanning microscopy.

Tailored optical fields whose polarization and phase are coupled in a non-separable fashion usually referred to as vector beams, have become ubiquitous in a wide variety of research fields. These complex light fields can be generated through a combination of physical optical elements such as spiral phase plates, q-plates and quarter wave plates. However, such "hard-coded" optical devices present some restrictions such as their inability to generate multiple structured light fields simultaneously. This has stimulated a wide range of generation techniques based on computer controlled devices such as spatial light modulators (SLMs). SLMs provide on demand, fast and flexible holographic means to create multiple tailored optical fields simultaneously (multiplexing). Here we present a novel technique that utilizes the superposition principle, enabling digital generation of many vector beams on a single hologram. Unlike other techniques, this method is purely digital and allows the generation of a wide variety of vector beams by simply changing the encoded digital hologram. As a proof of concept we demonstrate simultaneous generation of vector beams with different polarization states on the High Order Poincaré Sphere (HOPS). This novel technique will be of impact in the context of quantum and classical communication, optical micro-manipulation and super resolution microscopy.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and high-grade dysplasia (HGD) are two different pathological entities; however, they sometimes share similarities in histological structure depending on the context. Thus, distinguishing between the two may require careful examination by a pathologist and consideration of clinical findings. Unlike previous studies on cancer diagnosis using two-photon microscopy, quantitative analysis or machine learning (ML) algorithms need to be used to determine the subtle structural changes in images and the structural features that are statistically meaningful in cancer development. In this study, we aimed to quantitatively distinguish between SCC and HGD using two-photon microscopy combined with ML. Tissue samples were categorized into two groups: Group 1, primary SCC vs. metachronous HGD (SCC-HGD) and Group 2, primary HGD vs. metachronous HGD (HGD-HGD). We quantitatively analyzed second harmonic generation (SHG) and two-photon fluorescence (TPF) signals from two-photon microscopy imaging of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) was used to extract the textural features of the tissue images, and support vector machine (SVM), for classification of the tissue images based on their pathologies. The SHG-based classifiers demonstrated 75%, 84.21%, 95%, and 95.65% for Group 1, Group 2, primary SCC vs. primary HGD, and metachronous HGD (Group 1) vs. metachronous HGD (Group 2), respectively. This integrative approach enabled the characterization of different pathological stages and enhances the understanding of the pathogenic factors involved in the progression of esophageal cancer.

Two-photon calcium imaging has emerged as a powerful technique for monitoring neuronal activity in neuroscience; however, its data processing remains challenging. Here, we introduce NeuronID, an automatic toolkit designed to process two-photon calcium imaging data. The NeuronID toolkit features a modular architecture that includes motion correction, noise reduction, segmentation of neuronal components, and extraction of neuronal signals. Notably, the NeuronID toolkit offers an optimized strategy for segmenting neuronal components, which systematically integrates morphological boundary identification, cross-correlation analysis between pixels, and evaluation of neuronal signal quality. Compared to existing tools or manual annotation by experts, the NeuronID toolkit reduces the likelihood of over-segmentation while achieving near-human accuracy. Overall, this study provides an effective solution to the segmentation of neuronal components, offering a standardized analytical tool for processing two-photon calcium imaging data.

Transgenic lines carrying a specific tissue tagged by green-fluorescence-protein (GFP) have been a powerful tool to developmental biology because they encapsulate the expression of endogenous genes. Traditionally with two-photon fluorescence microscopy based on a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser (with a wavelength between 700-980nm), green fluorescence can be excited by simultaneous absorption of two photons for high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) optical imaging. However for in vivo biological applications, Ti:sapphire-laser based optical technology presents several limitations including finite penetration depth, strong on-focus cell damage, and phototoxicity. For high optical penetration and minimized photodamages, two-photon imaging based on light sources with an optical wavelength located around the biological penetration window (~1300nm) is desired, where unwanted light-tissue interactions including scattering, absorption, and photodamages can all be minimized. Previous experiments around the optical penetration window indicated inefficient green fluorescence excitation of GFP through three-photon absorption. Red fluorescence protein is thus highly desired for future non-invasive in vivo two-photon imaging. Screening from embryos injected with DNA fragment containing a heart-specific regulatory element of zebrafish cardiac myosin light chain 2 gene (cmlc2) fused with HcRed gene, we generate a zebrafish line that has strong two-photon red fluorescence expressed in cardiac cells based on a 1230nm femtosecond light source working in the biological penetration window. Combined with its nonlinearity, high penetration depth, and minimized photodamages, this method provides superb imaging capability compared with the traditional GFP based two-photon microscopy, offering deep insight into the noninvasive in vivo studies of gene expression in vertebrate embryos.

Understanding the neural basis of mosquito behavior is critical for designing effective vector control strategies and can potentially shed new light on basic nervous system function. Because mosquitoes are a non-model species, however, functional studies of mosquito nervous systems have long been restricted to electrophysiological recording from peripheral sensory organs such as the antenna. This is now changing with the advent of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and the development of other powerful new genetic tools. Transgenic mosquitoes that carry genetically encoded calcium sensors, for example, open the door to optical recording of neural activity with two-photon calcium imaging. Compared with electrophysiology, calcium imaging permits continuous monitoring of neural activity from large populations of neurons, even deep in the brain. When combined with selective neural drivers, it also allows targeted recording from specific neuronal types. Here, we describe a calcium imaging protocol we use in our laboratory to study neural activity in the brain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Two-photon imaging has become a useful tool for optical monitoring of neural circuits, but it requires high laser power and serial scanning of each pixel in a sample. This results in slow imaging rates, limiting the measurements of fast signals such as neuronal activity. To improve the speed and signal-to-noise ratio of two-photon imaging, we introduce a simple modification of a two-photon microscope, using a diffractive optical element (DOE) which splits the laser beam into several beamlets that can simultaneously scan the sample. We demonstrate the advantages of DOE scanning by enhancing the speed and sensitivity of two-photon calcium imaging of action potentials in neurons from neocortical brain slices. DOE scanning can easily improve the detection of time-varying signals in two-photon and other non-linear microscopic techniques.

BackgroundNonlinear optical (NLO) microscopy techniques have potential to improve the early detection of epithelial ovarian cancer. In this study we showed that multimodal NLO microscopies, including two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF), second-harmonic generation (SHG), third-harmonic generation (THG) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) can detect morphological and metabolic changes associated with ovarian cancer progression.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe obtained strong TPEF + SHG + THG signals from fixed samples stained with Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) and robust FLIM signal from fixed unstained samples. Particularly, we imaged 34 ovarian biopsies from different patients (median age, 49 years) including 5 normal ovarian tissue, 18 serous tumors and 11 mucinous tumors with the multimodal NLO platform developed in our laboratory. We have been able to distinguish adenomas, borderline, and adenocarcinomas specimens. Using a complete set of scoring methods we found significant differences in the content, distribution and organization of collagen fibrils in the stroma as well as in the morphology and fluorescence lifetime from epithelial ovarian cells.Conclusions/SignificanceNLO microscopes provide complementary information about tissue microstructure, showing distinctive patterns for serous and mucinous ovarian tumors. The results provide a basis to interpret future NLO images of ovarian tissue and lay the foundation for future in vivo optical evaluation of premature ovarian lesions.

Laser scanning microscopes combining a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser and an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) to duplicate the laser line have become available for biologists. These systems are primarily designed for multi-channel two-photon fluorescence microscopy. However, without any modification, complementary non-linear optical microscopy such as second-harmonic generation (SHG) or third harmonic generation (THG) can also be performed with this set-up, allowing label-free imaging of structured molecules or aqueous medium-lipid interfaces. These techniques are well suited for in-vivo observation, but are limited in chemical specificity. Chemically selective imaging can be obtained from inherent vibration signals based on Raman scattering. Confocal Raman microscopy provides 3D spatial resolution, but it requires high average power and long acquisition time. To overcome these difficulties, recent advances in laser technology have permitted the development of nonlinear optical vibrational microscopy, in particular coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). CARS microscopy has therefore emerged as a powerful tool for biological and live cell imaging, by chemically mapping lipids (via C-H stretch vibration), water (via O-H stretch vibrations), proteins or DNA. In this work, we describe the implementation of the CARS technique on a standard OPO-coupled multiphoton laser scanning microscope. It is based on the in-time synchronization of the two laser lines by adjusting the length of one of the laser beam path. We present a step-by-step implementation of this technique on an existing multiphoton system. A basic background in experimental optics is helpful and the presented system does not require expensive supplementary equipment. We also illustrate CARS imaging obtained on myelin sheaths of sciatic nerve of rodent, and we show that this imaging can be performed simultaneously with other nonlinear optical imaging, such as standard two-photon fluorescence technique and second-harmonic generation.

Two-Photon Processor (TPP) is a versatile, ready-to-use, and freely available software package in MATLAB to process data from in vivo two-photon calcium imaging. TPP includes routines to search for cell bodies in full-frame (Search for Neural Cells Accelerated; SeNeCA) and line-scan acquisition, routines for calcium signal calculations, filtering, spike-mining, and routines to construct parametric fields. Searching for somata in artificial in vivo data, our algorithm achieved better performance than human annotators. SeNeCA copes well with uneven background brightness and in-plane motion artifacts, the major problems in simple segmentation methods. In the fast mode, artificial in vivo images with a resolution of 256 × 256 pixels containing ≈ 100 neurons can be processed at a rate up to 175 frames per second (tested on Intel i7, 8 threads, magnetic hard disk drive). This speed of a segmentation algorithm could bring new possibilities into the field of in vivo optophysiology. With such a short latency (down to 5-6 ms on an ordinary personal computer) and using some contemporary optogenetic tools, it will allow experiments in which a control program can continuously evaluate the occurrence of a particular spatial pattern of activity (a possible correlate of memory or cognition) and subsequently inhibit/stimulate the entire area of the circuit or inhibit/stimulate a different part of the neuronal system. TPP will be freely available on our public web site. Similar all-in-one and freely available software has not yet been published.

The sensory neocortex is a highly connected associative network that integrates information from multiple senses, even at the level of the primary sensory areas. Although a growing body of empirical evidence supports this view, the neural mechanisms of cross-modal integration in primary sensory areas, such as the primary visual cortex (V1), are still largely unknown. Using two-photon calcium imaging in awake mice, we show that the encoding of audiovisual stimuli in V1 neuronal populations is highly dependent on the features of the stimulus constituents. When the visual and auditory stimulus features were modulated at the same rate (i.e., temporally congruent), neurons responded with either an enhancement or suppression compared with unisensory visual stimuli, and their prevalence was balanced. Temporally incongruent tones or white-noise bursts included in audiovisual stimulus pairs resulted in predominant response suppression across the neuronal population. Visual contrast did not influence multisensory processing when the audiovisual stimulus pairs were congruent; however, when white-noise bursts were used, neurons generally showed response suppression when the visual stimulus contrast was high whereas this effect was absent when the visual contrast was low. Furthermore, a small fraction of V1 neurons, predominantly those located near the lateral border of V1, responded to sound alone. These results show that V1 is involved in the encoding of cross-modal interactions in a more versatile way than previously thought.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The neural substrate of cross-modal integration is not limited to specialized cortical association areas but extends to primary sensory areas. Using two-photon imaging of large groups of neurons, we show that multisensory modulation of V1 populations is strongly determined by the individual and shared features of cross-modal stimulus constituents, such as contrast, frequency, congruency, and temporal structure. Congruent audiovisual stimulation resulted in a balanced pattern of response enhancement and suppression compared with unisensory visual stimuli, whereas incongruent or dissimilar stimuli at full contrast gave rise to a population dominated by response-suppressing neurons. Our results indicate that V1 dynamically integrates nonvisual sources of information while still attributing most of its resources to coding visual information.