In-vivo imaging of neural activity with dynamic vision sensors

• Main Authors: Taverni, Gemma, Moeys, Diederik Paul, Voigt, Fabian Friedrich, Li, Chenghan, Cavaco, Celso, Motsnyi, Vasyl, Berry, Stewart, Sipila, Pia, Bello, David San Segundo, Helmchen, Fritjof, Delbruck, Tobi
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2017
• Subjects: Institute of Neuroinformatics; 570 Life sciences; biology; Orca
• Online Access: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/168574/; https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/168574/9/PAPER_Biocas2017.pdf; https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/168574/1/08325076.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-168574; https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOCAS.2017.8325076

Optical recording of neural activity using calcium or voltage indicators requires cameras capable of detecting small temporal contrast in light intensity with sample rates of 10 Hz to 1 kHz. Large pixel scientific CMOS image sensors (sCMOS) are typically used due to their high resolution, high frame rate, and low noise. However, using such sensors for long-term recording is challenging due to their high data rates of up to 1 Gb/s. Here we studied the use of dynamic vision sensor (DVS) event cameras for neural recording. DVS have high dynamic range and a sparse asynchronous output consisting of brightness change events. Using DVS for neural recording could avoid transferring and storing redundant information. We compared the use of a Hamamatsu Orca V2 sCMOS with two advanced DVS sensors (a higher temporal contrast sensitivity 188×180 pixel SDAVIS and a 346×260 pixel higher light sensitivity back-side-illuminated BSIDAVIS) for neural activity recordings with fluorescent calcium indicators both in brain slices and awake mice. The DVS activity responds to the fast dynamics of neural activity, indicating that a sensor combining SDAVIS and BSIDAVIS technologies would be beneficial for long-term in-vivo neural recording using calcium indicators as well as potentially faster voltage indicators.