Use of Optical Probes for Visualizing Intracellular Calcium and Recording Action Potentials in Neurons.

To date, intracellular calcium reporters are the most commonly used optical probes for detecting neuron activity. Synthetic low molecular weight and genetically encoded protein compounds provide an enormous variety of accessible methods for recording signals of different intensity at different levels of studying the nervous system, from detecting activity in synaptic boutons and dendritic spines to recording the activity of the central nervous system in free behavior in vivo. This paper presents a comparative description of methods for optical recording of changes in the intracellular calcium concentration and compares original experimental data obtained by each of the methods described. Advantages and drawbacks are described, and the potential areas of application of each of the commercially available and widely used types of calcium-sensitive reporters are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]