Abstract
We report a functional optical coherence tomography cross-sectional scanner to detect neural activity using unmyelinated nerves dissected from squid. The nerves, unstained or stained with a voltage-sensitive dye, were imaged in a nerve chamber. Transient phase changes from backscattered light were detected during action potential propagation. The results show that the scanner can provide high spatiotemporal resolution cross-sectional images of neural activity (
15
μ
s
/
A
-
line
;
0.25
ms
/
B
-
scan
;
∼
8.5
×
5.5
μ
m
2
in
x
z
). The advantage of this method compared to monitoring a single depth profile
z
is a dramatic increase in the number of available sites that can be measured in two spatial dimensions
x
z
with lateral scanning; therefore, the study demonstrates that two-dimensional monitoring of small-scale functional activity would also be feasible.
