Long-Term Imaging of Dorsal Root Ganglia in Awake Behaving Mice

The dorsal root ganglia (DRG) are the first-order neurons in the somatosensory system. However, DRG neuronal activity in awake behaving animals remains unknown. This study developed a method for imaging DRG at cellular and subcellular resolution over weeks in awake mice. In order to image DRG in the living mice, an intervertebral fusion mount was installed to reduce spinal movement and a vertebral glass window was implanted without interfering animals’ motor and sensory functions. The dataset contains videos of calcium imaging of DRG neurons and source data used to assemble different figures in the publication. Videos contains data on calcium imaging of DRG neurons expressing GCaMP6s during awake or anesthesia conditions, repeated calcium imaging of DRG neurons in an awake mouse over the course of 21 days, calcium imaging of DRG neurons in an awake mouse before and after plantar saline injection, and calcium imaging of DRG neurons in an awake mouse before and after plantar formalin injection.