Simultaneous Optical and Electrophysiological Monitoring of Neuronal Cells in Brain Slices

Source:  Murphy, C. A., et al. Optogenetic activation of afferent pathways in brain slices and modulation of responses by volatile anesthetics. J. Vis. Exp. (2020) This video outlines a method for simultaneously imaging and recording electrical activity from transgenic brain slices that contain neuron-specific fluorescent proteins. The procedure involves maintaining the brain slice in a perfusion chamber with aerated artificial cerebrospinal fluid, using a light source to excite fluorescent-labeled cells, and recording the electrical signals with a multichannel probe and patch clamp.