Intensity-based scattering correction enables in vivo two-photon imaging beyond 1 mm

Abstract

Optical imaging of the deep brain with subcellular resolution is essential for neuroscience, but noninvasive imaging beyond the cortex, through scattering white matter and into the hippocampus, has generally required three-photon microscopy at longer excitation wavelengths. Here, we introduce deep-learning-enhanced Fourier-domain intensity coupling for scattering correction (DeepFOCUS), an intensity-based two-photon approach that uses deep learning to compute intensity-modulation masks for real-time modulation of excitation light during image acquisition. Unlike deep-learning-based image restoration, this method directly improves image formation by computing intensity-modulation masks that shape the excitation light in real time, with each mask experimentally validated by the acquired fluorescence signal to avoid hallucination artifacts. Using 1035 nm excitation, we achieved in vivo two-photon imaging beyond 1 mm depth in the intact mouse brain, resolving YFP-labeled neurons and FITC-labeled blood vessels through the entire cortex and white matter down to the CA1 region of the hippocampus. DeepFOCUS extends two-photon imaging to depths previously accessible mainly with three-photon microscopy and could enable broader adoption of hippocampal imaging by upgrading existing two-photon systems.