Spatial Light Interference Microscopy for Visualization of Wide-field Ex Vivo Mouse Brain Imaging

Abstract

We introduce white light spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) for ex-vivo mouse brain imaging. SLIM is label-free and non-invasive imaging technique [1,2], capable of visualizing nanoscale cytoarchitecture in the brain. By using two-dimensional scanning and mosaic algorithm, wide-field image of brain was obtained. Figure 1 shows schematic of SLIM (a) and wide-field SLIM image obtained by phase modulation technique (b). To further enhance the image contrast of anatomical structure in wide-field, light scattering property was calculated using phase image, which differentiates between myelinated axon and cell bodies. The system provides axial and transverse resolution of 1 µm and 0.4 µm, respectively. The imaging speed was 30 frames/sec.