Key Points:
- A new system can image up to 20,000 neurons in the brain, as opposed to a few hundred with current technologies.
- The researchers are hoping to expand the prototype to become the first observe and document memory formation across multiple regions of the cortex.
- At only $50,000, the scientists hope others leverage the technology to build their own versions of low-cost, high-resolution imaging systems.
Researchers at Michigan State University have built a state-of-the-art imaging system that will capture brain activity with a level of detail that has never before been possible.
Currently, high-resolution brain imaging techniques can capture only a few hundred individual neurons at a time. A prototype of the new imaging system has the potential to image 10,000 to 20,000 neurons, giving researchers an unprecedented view of brain activity in real-time while it is making and recalling memories.
The new imaging system uses a specially designed lens attached to a microscope that rapidly moves up and down vertically between different planes, taking dozens of pictures every second of the neurons firing in the outer layers of the brain’s cortex.
In a study, the researchers exposed mice to specific series of sights, smells and sounds to create a memory.
“A long-term goal of neuroscience has been to record from a great number of neurons as an animal is doing an activity and try to understand the relationship between the specific neurons that are firing at one point and what the animals are doing,” said Mark Reimers, an associate at the Institute for Quantitative Health Sciences and Engineering. “We know that specific neurons are active at specific times, and those are correlated with what the animals are doing or what the animals are experiencing.”
By combining the imaging system with newly developed advanced image processing software, the research team eventually wants to be able to identify the specific neurons used by animals to record and recall memories.
“We hope we will be the first people to observe and document memory formation across multiple regions of the cortex,” said Reimers.
Reimers and co-investigator Christian Burgess said they also hope other researchers will build their own version of this system to improve the image quality for their projects.
“It cost us about $50,000 to build and we’re hoping that hundreds of different labs who are not particularly well funded will be able to use this system to do really cutting-edge neuroscience research,” said Reimers.