Recent technical advances in molecular biology and optical imaging have made it possible to record from up to thousands of densely packed neurons in superficial and deep brain regions in vivo, with cellular subtype specificity and high spatiotemporal fidelity. Such optical neurotechnologies are enabling increasingly fine-scaled studies of neuronal circuits and reliably co-active groups of neurons, so called ensembles. Neuronal ensembles are thought to constitute the basic functional building blocks of brain systems, potentially exhibiting collective computational properties. While the technical framework of in vivo optical imaging and quantification of neuronal activity follows certain widely held standards, analytical methods for study of neuronal co-activity and ensembles lack consensus and are highly varied across the field. Here we provide a comprehensive step-by-step overview of theoretical, experimental, and analytical considerations for the identification and quantification of neuronal ensemble dynamics in high-resolution in vivo optical imaging studies.

分子生物学和光学成像的最新技术进步使得记录体内表层和深层大脑区域中多达数千个密集排列的神经元成为可能，具有细胞亚型特异性和高时空保真度。这种光学神经技术正在实现对神经元回路和可靠协同活动的神经元群（所谓的集合）的越来越精细的研究。神经元集合被认为构成了大脑系统的基本功能构建块，可能表现出集体计算特性。而体内的技术框架神经元活动的光学成像和量化遵循某些广泛持有的标准，用于研究神经元协同活动和整体的分析方法缺乏共识，并且在整个领域存在很大差异。在这里，我们对高分辨率体内光学成像研究中神经元集合动力学的识别和量化的理论、实验和分析考虑因素进行了全面的逐步概述。