Calcium neuroimaging in behaving zebrafish larvae using a turn-key light field camera

Reconstructing a three-dimensional scene from multiple simultaneously acquired perspectives (the light field) is an elegant scanless imaging concept that can exceed the temporal resolution of currently available scanning-based imaging methods for capturing fast cellular processes. We tested the performance of commercially available light field cameras on a fluorescent microscopy setup for monitoring calcium activity in the brain of awake and behaving reporter zebrafish larvae. The plenoptic imaging system could volumetrically resolve diverse neuronal response profiles throughout the zebrafish brain upon stimulation with an aversive odorant. Behavioral responses of the reporter fish could be captured simultaneously together with depth-resolved neuronal activity. Overall, our assessment showed that with some optimizations for fluorescence microscopy applications, commercial light field cameras have the potential of becoming an attractive alternative to custom-built systems to accelerate molecular imaging research on cellular dynamics.