Creative tinkerers and developers, along with recent advances in optogenetics, genetically-encoded Calcium indicators and miniaturized optics and electronics made head-mountable microscopes a popular tool. Innovations from the founders of Inscopix and the UCLA team with their Miniscope have made this technology more accessible.
The NINscope (developed and published by de Groot et al., 2019 from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience) is a more recent development. It is a smaller footprint, light weight hybrid of the Miniscope, with several other interesting integrated features. It is ideal for use on small freely behaving animals, or when two simultaneous recording areas is of interest, since it is small enough for a mouse to have two NINscope's mounted at the same time.
For more information on miniscope designs and features, please read further in the publication by de Groot et al., 2019. They described their instrument design, manufacturing methods and functionality in detail here.
Weight - 1.6g (Yes, this includes the housing, optics & PCBs!)
Footprint -6.5 x 7.5 mm baseplate
Sensor - CMOS 752x480 pixels (Python480) with Kyocera CMOS clock oscillator
Pixel Size - 4.8 µm
Inertial Measurement Unit - Yes, 3D accelerometer (STMicoreectronics LSM6DSLTR)
LED Driver - Yes, 2 LED drivers and 12C I/O expander
Accuracy -1 ms
Optogenetic stimulation LED probe - Yes, custom probe
Multi-region recordings - Yes
Inter-baseplate distance - 8.15 mm
Wireless - Yes
Coaxial Cable - CMOS connects via FPD-Link III and coaxial to USB controller on the DAQ board
Excitation/Emission Filters size - 3.5x3.5x0.5 mm Excitation/ 4x4x1 mm Emission
Dichroic Mirror - Chroma T495lpxr (3.5x5x0.5 mm)
GRIN lens - Yes, #64-519 Edmund Optics Grin lens with 1.8 mm diameter *implanted or glued into baseplate
Numerical Aperture - 0.55
Magnification - 4.6x
DAQ - UCLA Miniscope DAQ card with minor modifications
Time per recording session - 2-11 min with brief intermissions
Photobleaching/damage - None evident
Enclosure - 3D printed
Open Source Software - Yes, platform independent user interface with two channels for recordings and an additional USB webcam for behaviour video footage, together with time stamps and integrated control
Creative tinkerers and developers, along with recent advances in optogenetics, genetically-encoded Calcium indicators and miniaturized optics and electronics made head-mountable microscopes a popular tool. Innovations from the founders of Inscopix and the UCLA team with their Miniscope have made this technology more accessible.
The NINscope (developed and published by de Groot et al., 2019 from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience) is a more recent development. It is a smaller footprint, light weight hybrid of the Miniscope, with several other interesting integrated features. It is ideal for use on small freely behaving animals, or when two simultaneous recording areas is of interest, since it is small enough for a mouse to have two NINscope's mounted at the same time.
For more information on miniscope designs and features, please read further in the publication by de Groot et al., 2019. They described their instrument design, manufacturing methods and functionality in detail here.
Weight - 1.6g (Yes, this includes the housing, optics & PCBs!)
Footprint -6.5 x 7.5 mm baseplate
Sensor - CMOS 752x480 pixels (Python480) with Kyocera CMOS clock oscillator
Pixel Size - 4.8 µm
Inertial Measurement Unit - Yes, 3D accelerometer (STMicoreectronics LSM6DSLTR)
LED Driver - Yes, 2 LED drivers and 12C I/O expander
Accuracy -1 ms
Optogenetic stimulation LED probe - Yes, custom probe
Multi-region recordings - Yes
Inter-baseplate distance - 8.15 mm
Wireless - Yes
Coaxial Cable - CMOS connects via FPD-Link III and coaxial to USB controller on the DAQ board
Excitation/Emission Filters size - 3.5x3.5x0.5 mm Excitation/ 4x4x1 mm Emission
Dichroic Mirror - Chroma T495lpxr (3.5x5x0.5 mm)
GRIN lens - Yes, #64-519 Edmund Optics Grin lens with 1.8 mm diameter *implanted or glued into baseplate
Numerical Aperture - 0.55
Magnification - 4.6x
DAQ - UCLA Miniscope DAQ card with minor modifications
Time per recording session - 2-11 min with brief intermissions
Photobleaching/damage - None evident
Enclosure - 3D printed
Open Source Software - Yes, platform independent user interface with two channels for recordings and an additional USB webcam for behaviour video footage, together with time stamps and integrated control
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