Monitoring brain activity associated with natural physiological behavior is at the core of many neuroscience studies, yet many labs utilize imaging modalities that require anesthesia or immobilization of animals that cause unnatural stress and perturbed behavior. Instead, we separated the physiological system from the optical one using a fiber-optic tether, which allows the use of larger, optimized optical components while allowing mice to move freely thereby minimizing interference to their behavior. In vivo astrocyte activity, both spontaneous and stimulus-evoked was observed. The developed dual-color fluorescence system extended functionality to study multiple cell types concurrently.
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