Development of Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Imaging Devices for Detecting Green Fluorescent Protein in the Deep Brain of a Freely Moving Mouse

We have developed to observe neural activities in the deep brain of a freely moving mouse with green fluorescent protein (GFP). We implanted a dedicated complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imaging device into the hippocampus or the basal ganglion of an anesthetized mouse to confirm the effectiveness of the CMOS imaging device for the detection of GFP generated in the deep brain of the anesthetized mouse. Moreover, we conducted an experiment to demonstrate the capability of the CMOS imaging device to detect GFP in the deep brain of a freely-moving mouse. As a result of the in vivo experiments with two methods of GFP expression, we successfully detected the light intensity of GFP in the hippocampus or the basal ganglion of the anesthetized mouse. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the implanted CMOS imaging device operated well in the freely moving mouse after one week from implantation. We demonstrated the basic technology to realize the observation of neural activities in the deep brain of a freely moving mouse. (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics