Team touts fruit fly brain imaging systemsBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA team of researchers yesterday touted novel imaging systems for observing the dynamics of single neurons in living fruit flies’ brains, hoping to apply the tools to understand human brains. To explore the profound mystery of the human brain, the team started with fruit fly (Drosophila) brains, Chu said. A 3D dynamic image of neuronal activity in the brain of a fruit fly is pictured in an undated photograph. The team also produced a long-wavelength three-photon microscopy enabling whole-brain imaging in a living fruit fly, after they found the penetration depth of conventional two-photon microscopy in fruit fly brain was much less than that in a mouse brain due to their different brain structures, he said. The techniques might improve understanding about neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, in fruit flies and in human brains, Chu added.

Source: Taipei Times March 11, 2020 15:56 UTC