Cable-free brain imaging with miniature wireless microscopes

The invention of the miniaturized microscope has enabled neuroscientists to investigate neural mechanisms in freely moving mice. A lot of efforts have been made to optimize performance of the miniaturized microscope. However, the tethered cables limit the ability of mini-microscope systems to record neural activity from multiple mice simultaneously. Here, we present a wireless mini-microscope (wScope) that enables both real-time remote control and data preview during animal behavior; this design also supports simultaneous recording from up to 8 mice. The wScope has a mass of 2.7 g and a maximum frame rate of 25 Hz at 750 m by 450 m field of view with 1.8 m resolution. We validated the wScopes in video-recording of the cerebral blood flow (CBF) and the activity of neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) of different mice. The wScope provides a powerful tool for brain imaging of free moving animals, including large primates, in their much larger spaces and more naturalistic environments.