In an amazing new development for the study of the brain and associated neurodegenerative diseases, researchers at Stanford developed a way to watch neuron activity of live mice as they go about being mice. The mice were genetically engineered to express a green fluorescent protein that is sensitive to calcium ions.Because neurons consume calcium ions during activity, they fluoresce when the mouse brain uses them. Implanting a microscope into the brain allowed the researchers to pick up the emitted light and watch the live brain activity. Here’s a video demonstrating the system:
More from Stanford: Stanford researchers develop tool for reading the minds of mice
Study abstract in Nature Neuroscience: Long-term dynamics of CA1 hippocampal place codes