Fiber photometry is a sensitive and easy way to detect changes in fluorescent signals. The combination of fiber photometry with various fluorescent biomarkers has substantially advanced neuroscience research over the last decade. Despite the wide use of fiber photometry in biomedical fields, the lack of a detailed and comprehensive protocol has limited progress and sometimes complicated the interpretation of data. Here, we describe detailed procedures of fiber photometry for the long-term monitoring of neuronal activity in freely-behaving animals, including surgery, apparatus setup, data collection, and analysis.
Keywords: Ca2+ indicator; Ca2+ signal; Experiment protocol; Fluorescence detection; Optical fiber.