Head-mountable high speed camera for optical neural recording

We report a head-mountable CMOS camera for recording rapid neuronal activity in freely moving rodents using fluorescent activity reporters. This small, lightweight camera is capable of detecting small changes in light intensity (0.2% Delta I/I) at 500 fps. The camera has a resolution of 32 x 32, sensitivity of 0.62 V/Ix s, conversion gain of 0.52 mu V/e(-) and well capacity of 2.1 Me-. The camera, containing intensity offset subtraction circuitry within the imaging chip, is part of a miniaturized epi-fluorescent microscope and represents a first generation, mobile scientific-grade, physiology imaging camera. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.