What is in vivo calcium imaging?

In vivo calcium imaging provides the means to study specific populations of neurons within or across brain regions in freely-behaving animals. Thus, neuroscientists can investigate how neural activity may be linked to aspects of behaviour and cognition, connecting genetically-identified cells with function.

What is thapsigargin used for?

A sesquiterpene lactone, thapsigargin, is a phytochemical found in the roots and fruits of Mediterranean plants from Thapsia L. species that have been used for centuries in folk medicine to treat rheumatic pain, lung diseases, and female infertility.

How calcium imaging is done?

Images are analyzed by measuring fluorescence intensity changes for a single wavelength or two wavelengths expressed as a ratio (ratiometric indicators). If necessary, the derived fluorescence intensities and ratios may be plotted against calibrated values for known Ca2+ levels to measure absolute Ca2+ concentrations.

What are calcium indicators?

Rhodamine-based calcium indicators comprise a range of probes for large or small changes in Ca2+ concentration. They exhibit a 50-fold increase in fluorescence upon calcium binding and offer a range of wavelengths that can be used in conjunction with GFP or green-fluorescent dyes for multiplexing.

What plants contain thapsigargin?

The Mediterranean plant Thapsia garganica (Apiaceae), also known as deadly carrot, produces the highly toxic compound thapsigargin.

How do you dissolve thapsigargin?

Thapsigargin is sparingly soluble in aqueous buffers. For maximum solubility in aqueous buffers, thapsigargin should first be dissolved in ethanol and then diluted with the aqueous buffer of choice. Thapsigargin has a solubility of approximately 0.3 mg/ml in a 1:2 solution of ethanol:PBS (pH 7.2) using this method.

Which plant contains thapsigargin?

plant Thapsia garganica L.
The sesquiterpene lactone thapsigargin is found in the plant Thapsia garganica L., and is one of the major constituents of the roots and fruits of this Mediterranean species.

What is in vivo fiber photometry?

In vivo fiber photometry is a powerful technique to analyze the dynamics of population neurons during functional study of neuroscience.

Why is calcium imaging important?

As mentioned, a major advantage of calcium imaging is that it allows one to record activity from genetically identified neuronal subtypes. Thus, investigators can apply Cre-Lox approaches to record from (or optogenetically manipulate) different subtypes of striatal interneurons selectively using specific promoters.