Wide-field imaging of cortical response to sensory stimulation in GCaMP6f mice at different brain states

How the mouse cortex integrates sensory information during sleep is still unknown. To investigate the cortical responsiveness to external stimuli, we recorded activity over both cortical hemispheres in mice at different isoflurane-anesthetized brain states using wide field optical imaging with the fluorescent calcium indicator GCaMP6f. We compared the cortical activity dynamics following whisker stimulation in two conditions: deep and medium anesthesia in the same chronically implanted mice. Combining level-dependent modulation of slow wave, optical imaging and whisker stimulation, it was possible to perform large-scale spatial correlation between cortical regions during a response evoked by sensory stimulation. Moreover, as recordings are saved as tiff files, it is easy to work on them using Matlab or ImageJ programs. Our preliminary results show that changes in evoked complexity response may be related to changes in the anesthesia level.