A Polished and Reinforced Thinned-skull Window for Long-term Imaging of the Mouse BrainAndy Y. Shih 1, Celine Mateo 1, Patrick J. Drew 2,3, Philbert S. Tsai 1, David Kleinfeld 1,4
1Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, 2Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Pennsylvania State University , 3Department of Neurosurgery, Pennsylvania State University , 4Section of Neurobiology, University of California, San Diego
We present a method to form an imaging window in the mouse skull that spans millimeters and is stable for months without inflammation of the brain. This method is well suited for longitudinal studies of blood flow, cellular dynamics, and cell/vascular structure using two-photon microscopy.