Optically recording millisecond brain nerv...( and secondly the intense laser pulse...)

These obstacles were overcome by using a less-toxic dye, a longer illumination wavelength and by limiting the duration and intensity of the laser pulses. "Also, we conducted the first demonstration of this technique in a single cell of a pretty robust creature, the sea slug. But to use this imaging technique in more sensitive animals, we need to find an even less toxic dye," says Webb, adding that this will be a challenge.

But expanding the imaging from a single neuron to a larger network will be simple enough, says Dombeck. With the microscope's field of view, he says, it should be possible to record electrical signaling between many neurons at once.

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Contact: Roger Segelken
hrs2@cornell.edu
607-255-9736
Cornell University News Service
15-Feb-2004