Rapid 3D imaging of a seizure model in zebrafish using an electrically tunable lens with adaptive optics correction

Light Sheet Microscopy has many advantages for imaging living model organisms. Its optical sectioning capability and high volumetric imaging speed over a large field of view make it especially favorable for recording highly dynamic biological events, such as neural signaling. The combination of an electrical tunable lens (ETL) and a scanning light sheet allows us to record image stacks at high speed without moving the sample or the detection objective. The performance of the light sheet microscope is affected by aberrations from the sample mounting and the sample itself as well as aberrations introduced by The ETL which limit the usable field of view and focusing range of the system. Here, we present the development of a light sheet microscope optimized for volumetric imaging of zebrafish larvae with adaptive optics correction for extended focusing range and increased image quality at a speed of 0.6Hz over 400 × 400 × 100μm3 using an electrical tunable lens.