Forum - Alignment GRIN - Baseplate

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[#18]

Hi! I am concerned about the necessity of aligning the GRIN-lens and the baseplate of the scope. As described in your surgery protocol you insert the GRIN with the stereotaxic arm to make sure it is located normal to the axis in which the mouse is fixed in the stereotaxic. When placing the baseplate over the GRIN-lens, how can be ensured that the optical axis of the scope (governed by the tilt of the baseplate) is best oriented to conform with the optical axis of the GRIN-lens? The second but minor point is how the GRIN-lens is centered in the hole of the baseplate. Does anyone have some experience with checking the alignment of these parts during the surgery? Any help is much appreciated.

Posted by Lukas W on 24 February 2016 at 11:22.

Hi Lukas, I appreciate your question as we have not yet uploaded all of our baseplating videos and instructions yet. It turns out that the baseplate does not need to be aligned with the GRIN lens (at least in our current setup). During baseplating you can move the miniscope around to find the best field of view and often the miniscope (with baseplate) is not perfectly vertical. You just need to find the best field of view, and dental cement the baseplate onto the skull. Likewise, the GRIN lens does not need to be centered in the baseplate. Once you find a good imaging plane, and cement the baseplate it will also go back to that same imaging field regardless of whether the GRIN lens in centered. Hope this helps!

Posted by Tristanshuman (administrator) on 10 March 2016 at 00:24.
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