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FEATURE NEUROPHOTONICS


The dendritic tree of a fluorescent-labelled neuron inside living brain tissue, acquired with a STED microscope g


microscopy techniques, which have made it possible to study the complex and dynamic inner life of cells at the level of the individual protein building blocks. Meanwhile, in France scientists have been focusing on biological applications and discoveries enabled by these new techniques, Nägerl pointed out. Of the many emerging developments


in neuroscience, Nägerl considers the new generation of super-resolution light microscopes to be a breakthrough. By improving the ability to look deep inside biological tissue, these microscopes for instance allow taking extremely sharp and detailed images of neurons and their activity in real time as the animal subject goes about its everyday tasks. This discovery brought professor Stefan Hell, director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, and his colleagues a Nobel Prize in 2014. By breaking Abbe’s limit, the diffraction barrier in optical microscopy, Hell was able to increase the power of resolution tenfold, and he also showed there was room to obtain even better resolutions.


42 Electro Optics December 2017/January 2018


‘These advances in imaging make it possible to study, in real time, molecules and processes within the brain that have so far been out of reach for non-invasive optical methods,’ commented Nägerl. ‘We can now see things at the nanoscale, way beyond the old textbook limit set by the diffraction of light. And we can do so not by just scratching at the surface but really looking deep into it.’ The higher spatial resolution allows scientists to see molecules, for example, as they move dynamically in a natural context in real time. ‘The more we can see and understand,


the more hope there is that we will be able to find cures and therapies,’ said Nägerl. ‘There is always a thirst to see more.’


Neural highway A traffic management structure can be used to demonstrate how neurons in the brain communicate. City traffic systems can flow very smoothly, but they can also malfunction. Traffic lights can fail in one place. A car accident can lead to a jam in another. In the same way, neurons can


fail to flow as they should or make proper connections. Malfunctions in neuron communications and processes inside our brains can lead to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons. But now that advances in neurophotonics allow scientists to see the mechanisms behind such neuronal degeneration, they are much better placed to correct processes and find cures. Optogenetics is one neurophotonics


technique that allows scientists to use light to observe, or even control, the activity of neuronal circuits in order to better understand how the brain works. ‘Akin to the different traffic lights and signals that allow to control or direct the flow of traffic circulation on a road, neurophotonics [specifically optogenetics] can also be used to up or down-regulate the activity of a specific subset of neurons, using genetically engineered light-sensitive proteins,’ explained Mario Méthot, coordinator at the Neurophotonics Center of the Canadian Neurophotonics Platform. ‘As for now, [optogenetics] is applied in


@electrooptics | www.electrooptics.com


Prof U Valentin Nägerl / Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Synaptic Plasticity and Super-Resolution Microscopy Group. Institut Interdisciplinaire de Neurosciences (IINS), Université de Bordeaux


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