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Imaging activity of neuronal populations with new long-wavelength voltage-sensitive dyes

  • Brain Cell Technology
  • Published:
Brain Cell Biology

Abstract

We have assessed the utility of five new long-wavelength fluorescent voltage-sensitive dyes (VSD) for imaging the activity of populations of neurons in mouse brain slices. Although all the five were capable of detecting activity resulting from activation of the Schaffer collateral-CA1 pyramidal cell synapse, they differed significantly in their properties, most notably in the signal-to-noise ratio of the changes in dye fluorescence associated with neuronal activity. Two of these dyes, Di-2-ANBDQPQ and Di-1-APEFEQPQ, should prove particularly useful for imaging activity in brain tissue and for combining VSD imaging with the control of neuronal activity via light-activated proteins such as channelrhodopsin-2 and halorhodopsin.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by funds from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, and NIMH grant to G. Augustine, as well as NIH Grant EB001963 to L. Loew, and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas from MEXT of Japan (20021010) to Y. Sekino.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Synaptic Circuitry, Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 2 Jalan Bukit Merah, Singapore, 169547, Singapore

    Michelle Z. L. Kee & George J. Augustine

  2. A*STAR/Duke-NUS Neuroscience Research Partnership, Proteos, 61 Biopolis Drive, Singapore, 138673, Singapore

    Michelle Z. L. Kee & George J. Augustine

  3. Richard D. Berlin Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

    Joseph P. Wuskell & Leslie M. Loew

  4. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3209, Durham, NC, 2770, USA

    George J. Augustine

  5. Division of Neuronal Network, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1, Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan

    Yuko Sekino

  6. CREST, JST, Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan

    Yuko Sekino

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  1. Michelle Z. L. Kee
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  2. Joseph P. Wuskell
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  3. Leslie M. Loew
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  4. George J. Augustine
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  5. Yuko Sekino
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Correspondence to Yuko Sekino.

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Kee, M.Z.L., Wuskell, J.P., Loew, L.M. et al. Imaging activity of neuronal populations with new long-wavelength voltage-sensitive dyes. Brain Cell Bio 36, 157–172 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11068-009-9039-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11068-009-9039-x

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