An optimized protocol for assessing changes in mouse whole-brain activity using opto-fMRI

Christina Grimm; Nicole Wenderoth; Valerio Zerbi

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101761

An optimized protocol for assessing changes in mouse whole-brain activity using opto-fMRI

STAR Protoc. 2022 Dec 16;3(4):101761. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101761. Epub 2022 Oct 13.

Authors

Christina Grimm¹, Nicole Wenderoth², Valerio Zerbi³

Affiliations

¹ Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Neuro-X Institute, School of Engineering (STI), EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: christina.grimm@epfl.ch.
² Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Neuro-X Institute, School of Engineering (STI), EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: valerio.zerbi@epfl.ch.

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in mouse brain, paired with spatially and temporally defined manipulations, offers a powerful tool to causally explain the effect of specific neuronal activity on brain network dynamics. Here, we present an optimized protocol to measure cell-type-specific contributions to changes in whole-brain dynamics in mice using optogenetics (opto)-fMRI. This protocol details the injection of ChR2-expressing AAV, the implantation of optical fiber, the steps to perform opto-BOLD (blood-oxygenation-level-dependent) fMRI recording, and data analysis. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Grimm et al. (2021).

Keywords: Bioinformatics; Model Organisms; Neuroscience; Systems biology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain / physiology
Brain Mapping / methods
Magnetic Resonance Imaging* / methods
Mice
Neurons / physiology
Optogenetics* / methods