Author Topic: Imaging deeper - miniscope modification  (Read 2363 times)

Nikolas

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Imaging deeper - miniscope modification
« on: September 14, 2016, 02:41:18 PM »
We have a few mice for which the cells seem to be quite deep.
To see the cells we are using the 20mm imaging lens and the miniscope focusing position is at the "shortest".

However, this seems to still not be enough.

I was thinking to try the following:
If I shorten a little bit the main housing "tube" as well as the focus slider "tube", I should be able to get the CMOS sensor even closer to the imaging lens.

Do you think this would work or the optics design allows for this minimum distance only?

On a related note: Do you have any suggestions on what we can improve in the surgery part regarding this issue?
I am quite certain we aspirate enough.
We remove the first layer of fibers (capsule) and if I I am right the second "vertical" layer is the alveous which we leave intact.

Do you have any experience/intuition on what would be the effect of not pushing enough the tissue with the lens or pushing too much?

Also, in terms of optics, what is the effect of increased distance between the miniscope and the lens? I see during baseplating that increasing the distance makes the image darker.

Thanks in advance.
« Last Edit: September 14, 2016, 02:46:51 PM by Nikolas »

Daniel Aharoni

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Re: Imaging deeper - miniscope modification
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2016, 07:20:41 PM »
Hi Nikolas,
Yes, shortening the housing a bit will allow you to image deeper and definitely will work well. The main issue is you will now be imaging through a lot of tissue and likely will not be able to produce great images due to scattering. Your best bet would be to attempt to get the GRIN lens closer to the neurons in future surgeries.

I will ask Denise or Tristan to respond with other surgery suggestions.

Concerning the distance between the scope and GRIN lens, you should aim to minimize this distance. While the optics will still work, the bigger the distance the less uniform illumination you will get.