Reassignment of scattered emission photons in multifocal multiphoton microscopy

De-scattering with Excitation Patterning enables rapid wide-field imaging through scattering media

Nonlinear optical microscopy has enabled in vivo deep tissue imaging on the millimeter scale. A key unmet challenge is its limited throughput especially compared to rapid wide-field modalities that are used ubiquitously in thin specimens. Wide-field imaging methods in tissue specimens have found successes in optically cleared tissues and at shallower depths, but the scattering of emission photons in thick turbid samples severely degrades image quality at the camera. To address this challenge, we introduce a novel technique called De-scattering with Excitation Patterning or "DEEP," which uses patterned nonlinear excitation followed by computational imaging-assisted wide-field detection. Multiphoton temporal focusing allows high-resolution excitation patterns to be projected deep inside specimen at multiple scattering lengths due to the use of long wavelength light. Computational reconstruction allows high-resolution structural features to be reconstructed from tens to hundreds of DEEP images instead of millions of point-scanning measurements.

Realization of flexible and parallel laser direct writing by multifocal spot modulation

In this investigation, we propose a strip segmentation phase (SSP) method for a spatial light modulator (SLM) to generate independent multifocal spots when the beam passes through a high numerical aperture (NA) lens. With the SSP method, multifocal spots can be generated with each spot independently, flexibly and uniformly distributed. The performance of the SSP method is first validated with numerical simulation. Then, by applying the modulation method with SLM and importing the beams into an inverted fluorescence microscopy system with a high-NA lens, the spot distribution and their shapes can be observed by fluorescent image. The fluorescent image exhibits high uniformity and high consistency with the aforementioned numerical simulations. Finally, we dynamically load a series of phase maps on SLM to realize continuous and independent spot movement in a multifocal array. By laser direct writing on photoresist, a complex NWU-shape structure can be realized flexibly with multi-task fabrication capability. The SSP method can significantly improve the efficiency and flexibility of laser direct writing. It is also compatible with most recent techniques, e.g., multiphoton absorption, stimulated emission depletion and photo-induced depolymerization etc., to realize parallel super-resolution imaging and fabrications.

High speed functional imaging with source localized multifocal two-photon microscopy

Multifocal two-photon microscopy (MTPM) increases imaging speed over single-focus scanning by parallelizing fluorescence excitation. The imaged fluorescence's susceptibility to crosstalk, however, severely degrades contrast in scattering tissue. Here we present a source-localized MTPM scheme optimized for high speed functional fluorescence imaging in scattering mammalian brain tissue. A rastered line array of beamlets excites fluorescence imaged with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) camera. We mitigate scattering-induced crosstalk by temporally oversampling the rastered image, generating grouped images with structured illumination, and applying Richardson-Lucy deconvolution to reassign scattered photons. Single images are then retrieved with a maximum intensity projection through the deconvolved image groups. This method increased image contrast at depths up to 112 μm in scattering brain tissue and reduced functional crosstalk between pixels during neuronal calcium imaging. Source-localization did not affect signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in densely labeled tissue under our experimental conditions. SNR decreased at low frame rates in sparsely labeled tissue, with no effect at frame rates above 50 Hz. Our non-descanned source-localized MTPM system enables high SNR, 100 Hz capture of fluorescence transients in scattering brain, increasing the scope of MTPM to faster and smaller functional signals.

Correction of spherical aberration in multi-focal multiphoton microscopy with spatial light modulator

We demonstrate that high-quality images of the deep regions of a thick sample can be obtained from its surface by multi-focal multiphoton microscopy (MMM). The MMM system incorporates a spatial light modulator to separate the excitation beam into a multi-focal excitation beam and modulate the pre-distortion wavefront to correct spherical aberration (SA) caused by a refractive index mismatch between the immersion medium and the biological sample. When fluorescent beads in transparent epoxy resin were observed using four SA-corrected focal beams, the fluorescence signal of the obtained images was ~52 times higher than that obtained without SA correction until a depth of ~1100 μm, similar to the result for single-focal multiphoton microscopy (SMM). The MMM scanning time was four times less than that for SMM, and MMM showed an improved fluorescence intensity and depth resolution for an image of blood vessels in the brain of a mouse stained with a fluorescent dye.

Simultaneous Multi-plane Imaging of Neural Circuits

Recording the activity of large populations of neurons is an important step toward understanding the emergent function of neural circuits. Here we present a simple holographic method to simultaneously perform two-photon calcium imaging of neuronal populations across multiple areas and layers of mouse cortex in vivo. We use prior knowledge of neuronal locations, activity sparsity, and a constrained nonnegative matrix factorization algorithm to extract signals from neurons imaged simultaneously and located in different focal planes or fields of view. Our laser multiplexing approach is simple and fast, and could be used as a general method to image the activity of neural circuits in three dimensions across multiple areas in the brain.

Multifocal fluorescence microscope for fast optical recordings of neuronal action potentials

In recent years, optical sensors for tracking neural activity have been developed and offer great utility. However, developing microscopy techniques that have several kHz bandwidth necessary to reliably capture optically reported action potentials (APs) at multiple locations in parallel remains a significant challenge. To our knowledge, we describe a novel microscope optimized to measure spatially distributed optical signals with submillisecond and near diffraction-limit resolution. Our design uses a spatial light modulator to generate patterned illumination to simultaneously excite multiple user-defined targets. A galvanometer driven mirror in the emission path streaks the fluorescence emanating from each excitation point during the camera exposure, using unused camera pixels to capture time varying fluorescence at rates that are ∼1000 times faster than the camera's native frame rate. We demonstrate that this approach is capable of recording Ca(2+) transients resulting from APs in neurons labeled with the Ca(2+) sensor Oregon Green Bapta-1 (OGB-1), and can localize the timing of these events with millisecond resolution. Furthermore, optically reported APs can be detected with the voltage sensitive dye DiO-DPA in multiple locations within a neuron with a signal/noise ratio up to ∼40, resolving delays in arrival time along dendrites. Thus, the microscope provides a powerful tool for photometric measurements of dynamics requiring submillisecond sampling at multiple locations.

Spectral-resolved multifocal multiphoton microscopy with multianode photomultiplier tubes

Multiphoton excitation fluorescence microscopy is the preferred method for in vivo deep tissue imaging. Many biological applications demand both high imaging speed and the ability to resolve multiple fluorophores. One of the successful methods to improve imaging speed in a highly turbid specimen is multifocal multiphoton microscopy (MMM) based on use of multi-anode photomultiplier tubes (MAPMT). This approach improves imaging speed by using multiple foci for parallelized excitation without sacrificing signal to noise ratio (SNR) due to the scattering of emission photons. In this work, we demonstrate that the MAPMT based MMM can be extended with spectral resolved imaging capability. Instead of generating multiple excitation foci in a 2D grid pattern, a linear array of foci is generated. This leaves one axis of the 2D MAPMT available for spectral dispersion and detection. The spectral-resolved MMM can detect several emission signals simultaneously with high imaging speed optimized for high-throughput, high-contents applications. The new procedure is illustrated using imaging data from the kidney, peripheral nerve regeneration and dendritic morphological data from the brain.