Robust functional imaging of taste sensation with a Bessel beam

Functional imaging of intact taste cells in response to various tastant solutions poses a technical challenge since the refractive index of the immersion medium dynamically changes during tastant delivery. Critically, the focal shift introduced by high-index tastant solutions has been the fundamental limit in experimental design. Here we seek to address this issue by introducing an axially elongated Bessel beam in two-photon microscopy. Compared to the conventional Gaussian beam, the Bessel beam provides superior robustness to the index-induced focal shift, allowing us to acquire near artifact-free imaging of taste cells in response to a physiological taste stimulus. (c) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

The study introduces an axially elongated Bessel beam in two-photon microscopy to address the focal shift issue during imaging of taste cells, enabling accurate imaging of physiological taste stimuli.