GEVIBench › All sensors › ArcLight
ArcLight
Classic GEVI using a VSD fused to pH-sensitive GFP.
- Category: VSD-single FP
- Published: 2012-09-06 — Neuron 2012
- Response polarity: negative-going (fluorescence decreases on depolarization)
- Spectrum: excitation peak 488 nm, emission peak 511 nm (ArcLight)
- Two-photon compatible: yes
- Plasmid: Addgene #36856
- Tags: pHluorin
Headline values (as shown in the GEVIBench table)
| Metric | Value | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness (B/B_EGFP) | 0.66× EGFP | Molecular brightness relative to EGFP (extinction coefficient × quantum yield, or a measured ratio). Sensors not measured against EGFP directly are placed through a chain of pairwise brightness comparisons, combined by geometric mean. |
| Kinetics τ_on / τ_off (ms) | 25 / 30 ms | Activation / decay time constants in ms (amplitude-weighted mean τ for multi-exponential fits). The value shown averages the measurements made at physiological temperature (≥33 °C); if there are none, it is the measurement closest to 33 °C. |
| ΔF/F per 100 mV | -35% (median of 4 measurements: −31.8%) | Steady-state fluorescence change for a 100 mV depolarization step (−70 → +30 mV); the sign gives the polarity. The table shows the first listed measurement; the median across measurements (one-photon preferred) is used for sorting. |
| ΔF/F per mV | 0.47% (estimated from the F–V curve) | Subthreshold sensitivity: fluorescence change per mV near rest (−90 to −50 mV). Where no value is reported directly, it is estimated from the F–V curve. |
| ΔF/F per AP | 3.2% (median of 6 measurements: 2.95%) | Fluorescence change per single action potential in neurons. The table shows the first listed measurement; the median across measurements (one-photon preferred) is used for sorting. |
| AP width (FWHM, ms) | 6.6 ms | Full width at half maximum of the optical spike waveform. |
| Photostability t75% @ 100 mW/mm² | 7.3 s | Time for fluorescence to fall to 75% of its initial value under one-photon illumination, linearly dose-scaled to 100 mW/mm² (t50% is used where the 75% crossing falls inside a fast initial transient). Two-photon curves are not dose-scaled and are excluded. |
| Papers using it (N_used) | 53 | Number of published research papers, tracked by GEVIBench, that used the sensor for an experiment (a popularity / track-record measure). |
Measurements and sources
Kinetics
- τ_on 25 ms, τ_off 38 ms at 33-35°C — Jin 2012, Fig. S3B
- τ_on 28 ms, τ_off 104 ms at 22-23°C — Villette 2019, Table 1
- τ_on 25 ms, τ_off 21.5 ms at 34°C — Hochbaum 2014, Table S2
- τ_on 176 ms, τ_off 174 ms at 23°C — Zou 2014, Table 1
ΔF/F per 100 mV
- -35%, 1P — Jin 2012, Fig. 2C
- -29.6%, 1P — Milosevic 2020, Fig. 2D
- -32%, 1P — Hochbaum 2014, Fig. S6
- -31.6%, 1P — Zou 2014, Table 1
ΔF/F per action potential
- 3.2%, 1P — Jin 2012, Fig. 3
- 3.2%, 1P — Villette 2019, Table 1
- 2.2%, 1P — St-Pierre 2014, Fig. 1g
- 2.6%, 1P — Platisa 2017, Main text
- 2.7%, 1P — Lee 2017, Table 3
- 8.2%, 1P — Zou 2014, Table 1
AP width (FWHM)
- 6.5 ms at undefined Hz sampling, Cultured rat hippocampal neurons, in vitro, 1P, 22°C — St-Pierre 2014, Fig. 1f
- 70.6 ms at 1000 Hz sampling, Cultured rat hippocampal neurons, in vitro, 1P — Abdelfattah 2016, Fig. 5E
- 6.6 ms at 440 Hz sampling, Cultured neurons, in vitro, 1P — Gong 2014, Fig. 5c
Brightness comparisons
- 0.655× the brightness of EGFP — Villette 2019, Table 1
- 1.639344262295082× the brightness of ASAP1 — Milosevic 2020, Fig. 2F
- 1.4662756598240467× the brightness of ASAP3 — Villette 2019, Table 1
- 3.4482758620689657× the brightness of Bongwoori — Lee 2017, Table 3
- 0.3333333333333333× the brightness of MacQ-mCitrine — Gong 2014, Main text
- 0.3333333333333333× the brightness of MacQ-mOrange2 — Gong 2014, Main text
- 1.4771048744460855× the brightness of Marina — Platisa 2017, Main text
Photobleaching
- t75% = 177 s at 1 mW/mm², 1P — Lee 2017, Fig. S1
- t75% = 64 s at 11 mW/mm², 1P — Chamberland 2017, Fig. 1—figure supplement 3A
- t75% = 42 s at 18 mW/mm², 1P — Platisa 2017, Fig. 3C
- t75% = 56 s at 100 mW/mm², 1P — Abdelfattah 2016, Fig. 3I
Fluorescence–voltage (F–V) curve
ΔF/F (%) at each membrane potential, normalized to 0 at −70 mV: -100 mV: 16%; -70 mV: 0%; -40 mV: -12%; 30 mV: -30%; 100 mV: -41% — Milosevic 2020, Fig. 2C
Research papers using ArcLight (53)
- Single action potentials and subthreshold electrical events imaged in neurons with a fluorescent protein voltage probe — Jin L, Han Z, Platisa J, Wooltorton JRA, Cohen LB, Pieribone VA, Neuron 2012 (HEK293 cells, cultured mouse hippocampal neurons, in vitro)
- Genetically targeted optical electrophysiology in intact neural circuits — Cao G, et al., Cell 2013 (Drosophila brain neurons, in vivo)
- Fluorescent protein voltage probes derived from ArcLight that respond to membrane voltage changes with fast kinetics — Han Z, et al., PLoS One 2013 (HEK293 cells and cultured rat hippocampal neurons, in vitro)
- Rapid cellular phenotyping of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes using a genetically encoded fluorescent voltage sensor — Leyton-Mange JS, et al., Stem Cell Reports 2014 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, in vitro)
- Imaging neural spiking in brain tissue using FRET-opsin protein voltage sensors — Gong Y, et al., Nature Communications 2014 (Cultured neurons, brain slices, mouse cerebellum in vivo)
- Mechanistic studies of the genetically encoded fluorescent protein voltage probe ArcLight — Han Z, et al., PLoS One 2014 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
- Monitoring brain activity with protein voltage and calcium sensors — Storace DA, et al., Scientific Reports 2015 (Mouse olfactory bulb, in vivo)
- Two-photon lifetime imaging of voltage indicating proteins as a probe of absolute membrane voltage — Brinks D, et al., Biophysical Journal 2015 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
- Monitoring human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes with genetically encoded calcium and voltage fluorescent reporters — Shinnawi R, et al., Stem Cell Reports 2015 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, in vitro)
- Dual optical recordings for action potentials and calcium handling in induced pluripotent stem cell models of cardiac arrhythmias — Song L, et al., Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2015 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (Timothy syndrome), in vitro)
- Expression and testing in plants of ArcLight, a genetically-encoded voltage indicator used in neuroscience research — Matzke AJ, et al., BMC Plant Biology 2015 (Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana, in vivo)
- Single-molecule fluorimetry and gating currents inspire an improved optical voltage indicator (ArcLightning) — Treger JS, et al., eLife 2015 (HEK293 cells, Xenopus oocytes, in vitro)
- Ziram, a pesticide associated with increased risk for Parkinson's disease, differentially affects the presynaptic function of aminergic and glutamatergic nerve terminals — Martin CA, et al., Experimental Neurology 2016 (Drosophila neuromuscular junction, ex vivo)
- Optogenetic monitoring of synaptic activity with genetically encoded voltage indicators — Nakajima R, et al., Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience 2016 (Mouse olfactory bulb brain slices and in vivo)
- Directed evolution of key residues in fluorescent protein inverses the polarity of voltage sensitivity in ArcLight (Marina) — Platisa J, et al., ACS Chemical Neuroscience 2017 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
- Genetically expressed voltage sensor ArcLight for imaging large scale cortical activity in the anesthetized and awake mouse — Borden PY, et al., Neurophotonics 2017 (Mouse somatosensory cortex (barrel cortex), in vivo)
- Attenuation of synaptic potentials in dendritic spines — Kwon T, et al., Cell Reports 2017 (Cultured rat hippocampal neurons, in vitro (two-photon))
- Improving a genetically encoded voltage indicator by modifying the cytoplasmic charge composition (Bongwoori-R3) — Lee S, et al., Scientific Reports 2017 (HEK293 cells and cultured rat hippocampal neurons, in vitro)
- MicroRNA-92a is a circadian modulator of neuronal excitability in Drosophila — Chen X, et al., Nature Communications 2017 (Drosophila PDF pacemaker neurons, in vivo)
- Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac cell sheets expressing genetically encoded voltage indicator for pharmacological and arrhythmia studies — Shaheen N, et al., Stem Cell Reports 2018 (Human iPSC-derived cardiac cell sheets, in vitro)
- A dimeric fluorescent protein yields a bright, red-shifted GEVI capable of population signals in brain slice (Ilmol) — Yi B, et al., Scientific Reports 2018 (HEK293 cells, cultured neurons, mouse hippocampal brain slices)
- Mapping of excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials of neuronal populations in hippocampal slices using the GEVI, ArcLight — Nakajima R, et al., Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 2018 (Mouse hippocampal CA1 brain slices, ex vivo)
- Optical consequences of a genetically-encoded voltage indicator with a pH sensitive fluorescent protein — Kang BE, et al., Neuroscience Research 2019 (HEK293 cells and cultured hippocampal neurons, in vitro)
- Comparative evaluation of genetically encoded voltage indicators — Bando Y, et al., Cell Reports 2019 (HEK293 cells, cultured neurons, mouse visual cortex in vivo)
- Using genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) to study the input-output transformation of the mammalian olfactory bulb — Storace DA, et al., Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 2019 (Mouse olfactory bulb, in vivo)
- Single-cell RNA-sequencing and optical electrophysiology of human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes reveal discordance between cardiac subtype-associated gene expression and electrophysiological phenotypes — Biendarra-Tiegs SM, et al., Stem Cells and Development 2019 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, in vitro)
- Characterization of the CACNA1C-R518C missense mutation in the pathobiology of long-QT syndrome using human iPSC cardiomyocytes — Estes SI, et al., Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine 2019 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (long-QT syndrome), in vitro)
- Human induced pluripotent stem cell line with genetically encoded fluorescent voltage indicator generated via CRISPR — Sun YH, et al., Stem Cells 2020 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (CRISPR knock-in), in vitro)
- Human iPSC-derived non-cardiomyocytes modulate cardiac electrophysiological maturation through connexin 43-mediated cell-cell interactions — Biendarra-Tiegs SM, et al., Stem Cells and Development 2020 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and non-cardiomyocytes co-cultures, in vitro)
- Real-time detection of changes in yeast plasma membrane potential using genetically encoded voltage indicator proteins — Limapichat W, et al., FEMS Yeast Research 2020 (Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast), in vitro)
- In vitro testing of voltage indicators: Archon1, ArcLightD, ASAP1, ASAP2s, ASAP3b, Bongwoori-Pos6, BeRST1, FlicR1, and Chi-VSFP-Butterfly — Milosevic MM, et al., eNeuro 2020 (HEK293 cells, cultured neurons, mouse brain slices)
- Triclosan disrupts immune cell function by depressing Ca2+ influx following acidification of the cytoplasm — Sangroula S, et al., Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 2020 (RBL-2H3 mast cells and Jurkat T cells, in vitro)
- Analysing bioelectrical phenomena in the Drosophila ovary with genetic tools — Schotthoefer SK, et al., BMC Developmental Biology 2020 (Drosophila melanogaster ovary follicular epithelium, ex vivo)
- Promise and potential peril with lumacaftor for the trafficking defective type 2 long-QT syndrome-causative variants — O'Hare BJ, et al., Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine 2020 (Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (LQT2), in vitro)
- GEVI cell-type specific labelling and a manifold learning approach provide evidence for lateral inhibition at the population level in mouse hippocampal CA1 — Nakajima R, et al., European Journal of Neuroscience 2021 (Mouse hippocampal CA1 brain slices, ex vivo)
- Improving the flexibility of genetically encoded voltage indicators via intermolecular FRET — Leong LM, et al., Biophysical Journal 2021 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
- Mechanism of ArcLight derived GEVIs involves electrostatic interactions that can affect proton wires — Kang BE, et al., Biophysical Journal 2021 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
- Enabling comprehensive optogenetic studies of mouse hearts by simultaneous opto-electrical panoramic mapping and stimulation — Rieger M, et al., Nature Communications 2021 (Transgenic mouse hearts (ArcLight-Q239), ex vivo)
- Studying synaptically evoked cortical responses ex vivo with combination of single neuron recording and population voltage imaging — Jang J, et al., Frontiers in Neuroscience 2021 (Mouse cortex brain slices, ex vivo)
- Visualizing oscillations in brain slices with genetically encoded voltage indicators — Rhee JK, et al., Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 2021 (Mouse motor cortex brain slices, ex vivo)
- Simultaneous two-photon imaging of action potentials and subthreshold inputs in vivo — Bando Y, et al., Nature Communications 2021 (Mouse visual cortex neurons (ArcLight-ST variant), in vivo)
- Voltage imaging in the olfactory bulb using transgenic mouse lines expressing ArcLight — Platisa J, et al., Scientific Reports 2022 (Transgenic mouse olfactory bulb, in vivo)
- Conserved amino acids residing outside the voltage field can shift the voltage sensitivity and increase the signal speed and size of Ciona based GEVIs — Sepehri Rad M, et al., Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 2022 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
- Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector-mediated gene transfer of hTBX18 generates pacemaker cells from ventricular cardiomyocytes — Farraha M, et al., International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2022 (Neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes, in vitro)
- Generation of human iPSC line encoding for ArcLight A242 — Vivekanandan R, et al., Stem Cell Research 2023 (Human iPSC line with knock-in ArcLight A242, in vitro)
- Voltage to calcium transformation enhances direction selectivity in Drosophila T4 neurons — Mishra A, et al., Journal of Neuroscience 2023 (Drosophila T4 direction-selective neurons, in vivo (two-photon))
- Fast two-photon imaging of subcellular voltage dynamics in neuronal tissue with genetically encoded indicators — Chamberland S, et al., eLife 2017 (Drosophila visual neurons (L2), in vivo; HEK293A cells, in vitro)
- Imaging different cell populations in the mouse olfactory bulb using ArcLight — Leong LM, et al., Neurophotonics 2024 (Mouse olfactory bulb (multiple cell types), in vivo)
- Generation of a genetically encoded voltage indicator MARINA reporter human iPS cell line using Cas9 — Petruskeviciu-te A, et al., Stem Cell Research 2025 (Human iPSC line with knock-in MARINA, in vitro)
- Ultrafast two-photon imaging of a high-gain voltage indicator in awake behaving mice — Villette V, et al., Cell 2019 (HEK293 cells, cultured neurons, mouse visual cortex in vivo)
- All-optical electrophysiology in mammalian neurons using engineered microbial rhodopsins — Hochbaum DR, et al., Nature Methods 2014 (HEK293T cells, cultured rat hippocampal neurons, human iPSC-derived neurons)
- High-fidelity optical reporting of neuronal electrical activity with an ultrafast fluorescent voltage sensor — St-Pierre F, et al., Nature Neuroscience 2014 (HEK293A cells, cultured rat hippocampal neurons, mouse brain slices, in vivo)
- A bright and fast red fluorescent protein voltage indicator that reports neuronal activity in organotypic brain slices — Abdelfattah AS, et al., Journal of Neuroscience 2016 (HEK293 cells, organotypic rat brain slices)
Data and citation
- llms.txt — summary for language models
- llms-full.txt — every sensor in full (Markdown)
- gevis.json — all values and measurements with sources (JSON)
- gevis.csv — one row per sensor (CSV)
Cite GEVIBench as: Adam E. Cohen and Daozheng Gong (2026). Voltage imaging: A practical guide. Neuron. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.002
Generated from the GEVIBench database on 2026-10-12.