Two-photon calcium imaging of cortical layer 2/3 neurons in GCaMP6f mice at different anesthesia levels

Slow waves (SWs) are spatio-temporal patterns of cortical activity that occur both during natural sleep and anesthesia and are preserved across species. Even though electrophysiological recordings have been largely used to characterize brain states, they are limited in spatial resolution and cannot target specific neuronal populations. Recently, large-scale optical imaging techniques coupled with functional indicators overcame these restrictions and will give new important insight on the SW phenomenon. Here we combined Two-photon fluorescence microscopy and a transgenic mouse model expressing a calcium indicator (GCaMP6f) in excitatory neurons to study SW related layer 2/3 (L2/3) neurons activity under different levels of anesthesia.