NINscope, a versatile miniscope for multi-region circuit investigations

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Engineering
• Optical Imaging

Background:

• Miniaturized fluorescence microscopes (miniscopes) enable neural signal monitoring during unrestrained behavior.
• Open-source miniscopes offer affordability but often compromise on size and weight for added functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce NINscope, a novel, lightweight, and compact open-source miniscope.
• To demonstrate NINscope's capability for concurrent, cellular-resolution recordings from multiple brain regions in behaving mice.
• To showcase NINscope's integrated optogenetic stimulation for circuit connectivity studies.

Main Methods:

• Development of NINscope: a lightweight miniscope with a small footprint.
• Integration of a high-sensitivity image sensor, inertial measurement unit, and LED driver for optogenetics.
• Concurrent cellular-resolution recordings from cerebellum and cerebral cortex in unrestrained mice.
• Optogenetic stimulation to examine cerebello-cerebral and cortico-striatal connectivity.
• Cross-platform acquisition and control software.

Main Results:

• Successful concurrent cellular-resolution recordings from cerebellum and cerebral cortex in unrestrained mice.
• Demonstrated optogenetic stimulation capabilities for probing neural circuit connectivity.
• Replication of previously reported action encoding findings in the dorsal striatum.
• NINscope facilitates multi-region circuit investigations during natural behaviors.

Conclusions:

• NINscope is a versatile, lightweight, and compact open-source miniscope.
• It enhances access to multi-region circuit investigations in behaving animals.
• This tool advances the capabilities of open-source neuroscience research.