Differential Multiphoton Laser Scanning Microscopy

Multifocal multiphoton laser scanning microscopy (mfMPLSM) in the biological and medical sciences has the potential to become a ubiquitous tool for obtaining high-resolution images at video rates. While current implementations of mfMPLSM achieve very high frame rates, they are limited in their applicability to essentially those biological samples that exhibit little or no scattering. In this paper, we report on a method for mfMPLSM in which whole-field detection with a single detector, rather than detection with a matrix of detectors, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, is implemented. This advance makes mfMPLSM fully compatible for use in imaging through scattering media. Further, we demonstrate that this method makes it possible to simultaneously obtain multiple images and view differences in excitation parameters in a single scan of the specimen.