Membrane Potential Imaging in the Nervous System and Heart (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology)

This volume discusses membrane potential imaging in the nervous system and in the heart and modern optical recording technology. Additionally, it covers organic and genetically-encoded voltage-sensitive dyes; membrane potential imaging from individual neurons, brain slices, and brains in vivo; optical imaging of cardiac tissue and arrhythmias; bio-photonics modelling. This is an expanded and fully-updated second edition, reflecting all the recent advances in this field.

Twenty chapters, all authored by leading names in the field, are cohesively structured into four sections. The opening section focuses on the history and principles of membrane potential imaging and lends context to the following sections, which examine applications in single neurons, networks, large neuronal populations and the heart. Topics discussed include population membrane potential signals in development of the vertebrate nervous system, use of membrane potential imaging from dendrites and axons, and depth-resolved optical imaging of cardiac activation and repolarization. The final section discusses the potential – and limitations – for new developments in the field, including new technology such as non-linear optics, advanced microscope designs and genetically encoded voltage sensors.

Membrane Potential Imaging in the Nervous System and Heart is ideal for neurologists, electro physiologists, cardiologists and those who are interested in the applications and the future of membrane potential imaging.

Marco Canepari (b. Milan 1970) is first class INSERM researcher (CR1) working at the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique in Grenoble. He graduated in physics at the University of Genoa and received his PhD in biophysics from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste. He worked at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, at Yale University and at the University of Basel. Marco is expert on several optical techniques applied to neurophysiology. Marco and Dejan collaborated for a number of years using voltage-imaging and calcium imaging approaches to study mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity.

Olivier Bernus (b. Tournai 1976) is Professor and Scientific Director at the Electrophysiology and Heart Modeling Institute LIRYC at the University of Bordeaux, France. He graduated in Mathematical Physics at the University of Ghent, Belgium and obtained his PhD in Physics from the same university. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow at SUNY Upstate Medical University, USA, and as a tenure track research fellow at the University of Leeds, UK. Olivier is an expert in cardiac optical imaging and is currently working on the development of novel techniques for three-dimensional depth-resolved optical imaging of cardiac electrical activity.

Dejan Zecevic (b. Belgrade 1948) is Senior Research Scientist at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine. He received the PhD in Biophysics from The University of Belgrade, Serbia and was trained in the laboratory of Dr Lawrence Cohen who initiated the field of voltage-sensitive dye recording. Dejan is the pioneer of intracellular voltage-sensitive dye imaging technique, a unique and a cutting edge technology for monitoring the membrane potential signaling in axons, dendrites and dendritic spines of individual nerve cells.