Time-lapse imaging in the living animal provides valuable information on structural reorganization in the intact brain. Here, we introduce a thinned-skull preparation that allows transcranial imaging of fluorescently labeled synaptic structures in the living mouse cortex by two-photon microscopy.
Yu, X., Zuo, Y. Two-Photon in vivo Imaging of Dendritic Spines in the Mouse Cortex Using a Thinned-skull Preparation. J. Vis. Exp. (87), e51520, doi:10.3791/51520 (2014).