High-speed two-photon microscopy with adaptive line-excitation

We present a two-photon fluorescence microscope designed for high-speed imaging of neural activity in cellular resolution. Our microscope uses a new adaptive sampling scheme with line illumination. Instead of building images pixel by pixel via scanning a diffraction-limited spot across the sample, our scheme only illuminates the regions of interest (i.e., neuronal cell bodies), and samples a large area of them in a single measurement. Such a scheme significantly increases the imaging speed and reduces the overall laser power on the brain tissue. Using this approach, we performed high-speed imaging of the neural activity of mouse cortex in vivo . Our method provides a new sampling strategy in laser-scanning two-photon microscopy, and will be powerful for high-throughput imaging of neural activity.