E-Scope

A collaboration of multiple labs in the Neurology and Neurobiology departments at UCLA published a paper regarding their open-source electrophysiology-integrated mini scope in an eLife paper in April 2023.

E-Scope is an open source mini scope that simultaneously measures electrical activity in one brain area and performs calcium imaging of a distal brain area. It allows for the measurement of different kinds of brain activity in multiple brain areas in a freely behaving mouse. This makes it possible to simultaneously measure electrical activity, calcium changes, and behavior — all integrated into one platform. The E-Scope allows for the understanding of how remote brain areas interact with one another while an animal is freely-moving and behaving. The authors of this paper validated the tool in their recent paper where they recorded electrical activity from various cell types in the cerebellum, while also calcium imaging in the ACC. This was done to understand how these brain areas interact in socially behaving mice.

The E-Scope is useful for measuring activity in a variety of brain regions and can also be applied to various different recording methods. The compactness of the device and the single cable provides ease in movement for the animal, as opposed to having many wires that may impact behavior measurement.

This research tool was created by your colleagues. Please acknowledge the Principal Investigator, cite the article in which the tool was described, and include an RRID in the Materials and Methods of your future publications. RRID: SCR_025396

Special thanks to Abby St. Jean, a neuroscience undergraduate at American University, for providing this project summary.