Work

In-vivo imaging of neural activity with dynamic vision sensors

Year: 2017

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: 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.

Source: IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS)

DOI: 10.1109/biocas.2017.8325076