Scope advance gives first look through all cortical layers of the awake brain
Just like doctors seek to scan deeper into the body with sonograms, CT, and MRI, and astronomers seek to look farther out into the universe with space-based telescopes, adaptive optics, and different wavelengths of light, neuroscientists pursue new ways to watch brain cells at work deep inside the brain. Three-photon microscopy recently emerged to give them a deeper look at brain cells than ever before. Now, based on a substantial refinement of the technology, scientists at MIT have conducted the first-ever study of stimulated neural activity in an awake mouse through every visual cortex layer and notably the mysterious subplate below. “By optimizing the optical design and other features for parameters for making measurements in the live brain, we were able to actually make novel discoveries that were not possible before,” says co-corresponding author Mriganka Sur, the Newton Professor of Neuroscience in the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. The paper’s co-lead authors are postdocs...