Head-fixed single-cell calcium imaging of the ventral pallidum with Mightex OASIS Fiberscope
Justin G. Wang and colleagues in the Kravitz Lab at Washington University in St. Louis investigate the neural circuits that regulate decision-making, reward seeking, and feeding. Their research focuses on the ventral pallidum, a brain region involved in motivation and the processing of rewarding experiences, including the consumption of palatable foods. This application note examines how individual ventral pallidum GABAergic neurons respond during reward consumption in awake, head-fixed mice
Read the full application note below to see how Justin used the OASIS Fiberscope,a 470 nm LED source, the PolyEcho Intelligent Control Module, and PolyScan4 Software to record and analyse single-cell calcium activity. The synchronized workflow revealed heterogeneous neuronal responses during palatable reward consumption and enabled calcium dynamics to be accurately aligned with licking behaviour.
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Meet the Researcher
Justin G. Wangis a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, working in the Kravitz Lab, which studies the neural circuits coordinating decision making, reward seeking, and ingestion — including the circuits that drive hedonic feeding in diet-induced obesity. His current research focuses on the ventral pallidum, using single-cell calcium imaging in awake, head-fixed mice to characterize how GABAergic VP neurons respond during palatable reward consumption. He used the Mightex OASIS Fiberscope, synchronized with the PolyEcho Intelligent Control Module, to record and align these single-cell dynamics with licking behavior.
“The Mightex OASIS imaging system has been reliable and highly customizable, with seamless integration between the acquisition box, behavior camera, and PolyScan4 software that enables synchronized calcium imaging and behavioural recording, streamlining our workflow and allowing precise alignment of neural activity with behaviours of interest.”
— Justin G. Wang , Kravitz Lab, Washington University in St. Louis
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