ABSTRACT
Miniaturized optical imaging devices have additional advantages over the traditional benchtop systems. Historically, most optical neuroimaging experiments were conducted while the animal was anesthetized and immobilized within a stereotaxic restraint. A major design criterion of miniaturized neuroimaging systems is the additional weight it imposes on the animal. Susceptibility to motion artifact is another issue with imaging in awake, freely moving animals. Besides motion from respiration and heartbeats that are common with benchtop imaging, miniaturized imaging systems are susceptible to additional motion caused by an animal’s body movement or the relative displacement between the animal and the headpiece. Miniaturized fiber optic systems permit the use of high-end light sources and/or detectors designed for conventional benchtop imaging systems. Optical imaging is very flexible in terms of spatio-temporal resolution and choice of contrast agents, permitting neuroscientists to probe neural systems from multiple perspectives.
