Abstract
Purpose
Over the last decade, in vivo calcium imaging became a powerful tool for studying brain function. With the use of two-photon microscopy and modern labelling techniques, it allows functional studies of individual living cells, their processes and their interactions within neuronal networks. In vivo calcium imaging is even more important for studying the aged brain, which is hard to investigate in situ due to the fragility of neuronal tissue.
Methods
In this article, we give a brief overview of the techniques applicable to image aged rodent brain at cellular resolution.
Results
We use multicolor imaging to visualize specific cell types (neurons, astrocytes, microglia) as well as the autofluorescence of the “aging pigment” lipofuscin.
Conclusions
Further, we illustrate an approach for simultaneous imaging of cortical cells and senile plaques in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by grants of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 391 and SFB 596) and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (NGFN-2). We are thankful to M. Staufenbiel (Novartis Pharma, Basel, Switzerland) for AD mouse mutants, M. Kerschensteiner and T. Misgeld for CX3CR1-EGFP mice and A. Konnerth for support and helpful discussions. We thank Olympus Europa for providing two-photon-based Fluoview 1000MPE.
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The authors declare that they have no relevant financial or any other interests in this manuscript.
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Eichhoff, G., Busche, M.A. & Garaschuk, O. In vivo calcium imaging of the aging and diseased brain. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 35 (Suppl 1), 99–106 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-007-0709-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-007-0709-6