Visualizing Protein Kinase A Activity In Head-fixed Behaving Mice Using In Vivo Two-photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy

A procedure is presented to visualize protein kinase A activities in head-fixed, behaving mice. An improved A-kinase activity reporter, tAKARα, is expressed in cortical neurons and made accessible for imaging through a cranial window. Two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy is used to visualize PKA activities in vivo during enforced locomotion.