Interferometric imaging of electrical signaling in biological cells
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Electrical signaling in biological cells is an important mediator of physiological functions, ranging from graded potentials in sensory neurons and other cells to action potentials in motor- and other neurons in the nervous system. The action potential constitutes the basic unit of neural information, and it is of particular interest to detect. Classically, this is done using invasive electrical measurements, such as a single-cell patch clamp or arrays of extracellular electrodes. More recent optical methods require exogenous markers, such as fluorescent calcium indicators, or genetically encoded transmembrane voltage sensors, and are thus still invasive. Truly non-invasive optical methods based on single-point laser interferometry have demonstrated nanometer-scale cellular deformations that accompany electrical events. This phenomenon can be exploited as an all-optical method for detection of action potentials and other electrical signaling. Here, I report full-field imaging of cellular deformations accompanying the action potential in mammalian neuron somas (-1.8 nm to 1.4 nm) and neurites (-0.7 nm to 0.9 nm), using high-speed common-path quantitative phase imaging with a temporal resolution of 0.1 ms and an optical path length sensitivity of < 4 pm per pixel. Spike-triggered averaging, synchronized to electrical recordings, demonstrates that the time course of the optical phase changes closely matches the dynamics of the electrical signal. Utilizing the spatial and temporal correlations of the phase signals across the cell, the detection and segmentation of spiking cells can be enhanced compared to the shot-noise limited performance of single pixels. These full-field observations of the spike-induced deformations shed light upon the electromechanical coupling mechanism in all electrogenic cells and open the door to non-invasive label-free imaging of neural signaling. Such electrically-induced cellular deformations can also be seen in photoreceptors during phototransduction in the human retina. Thus, wide-field label-free optical monitoring of neural activity using fast interferometry is an imminent diagnostic tool for noninvasive assessment of retinal function, and might find broader applications in neuroscience in general
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2020; ©2020 |
| Publication date | 2020; 2020 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Boyle, Kevin Conlon |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Palanker, Daniel |
| Thesis advisor | Palanker, Daniel |
| Thesis advisor | Solgaard, Olav |
| Thesis advisor | Wetzstein, Gordon |
| Degree committee member | Solgaard, Olav |
| Degree committee member | Wetzstein, Gordon |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Electrical Engineering. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Kevin C. Boyle |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2020 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2020 by Kevin Conlon Boyle
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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