High-speed volumetric imaging of neuronal activity in freely moving rodents

Thus far, optical recording of neuronal activity in freely behaving animals has been limited to a thin axial range. We present a head-mounted miniaturized light-field microscope (MiniLFM) capable of capturing neuronal network activity within a volume of 700 × 600 × 360 µm(3) at 16 Hz in the hippocampus of freely moving mice. We demonstrate that neurons separated by as little as ~15 µm and at depths up to 360 µm can be discriminated.