Chronic Imaging of Mouse Visual Cortex Using a Thinned-skull Preparation

Dendritic spines are membrane protrusions from a neuron's dendrite that receive synaptic input. Lengthening, shrinking appearance or disappearance of spines occurs in response to changes in neural network function that result from specific patterns of neural activity. This phenomenon is known as cortical plasticity to observe morphological changes in dendritic spines.

In live animals, an imaging plate is affixed to a mouse's skull. An area of the skull is surgically thinned and images are required at low and high magnification. The areas are then re-image at later time points.