Whole-Mount Imaging of Responses in Mouse Vomeronasal Neurons

Imaging permits the visualization of neural activity from the whole-mount vomeronasal sensory epithelium with single-cell resolution. The preparation preserves an intact tissue environment, enabling the robust detection of cellular responses upon chemical stimulation and study of the precise 3D mapping of vomeronasal sensory neuron (VSN) functional types within the epithelium. Using objective-coupled planar illumination (OCPI) microscopy to perform fast volumetric imaging, we routinely record the responses of thousands of VSNs for hours from a single intact vomeronasal organ preparation. Here we document the preparation of the whole-mounted vomeronasal epithelium, multichannel stimulus delivery, and three-dimensional calcium imaging by OCPI microscopy.