A miniature fluorescence microscope for multi-plane imaging

Miniature fluorescence microscopes are becoming an increasingly established tool to investigate neural circuits in freely moving animals. In this work we present a lightweight one-photon microscope capable of imaging at different focal depths. The focal plane can be changed dynamically by modulating the pulse width of the control signal to a variable focus liquid lens, which is synchronized to the image sensor to enable changing focal plane between frames. The system was tested by imaging GCaMP7f expressing neurons in the mouse medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in vivo during open field test. Results showed that with the proposed design it is possible to image neurons across an axial scan of ~ 60 microm, resulting in a ~ 40% increase of total neurons imaged compared to single plane imaging.