GEVIBench › All sensors › VSFP2.3
VSFP2.3
The first VSFP variant to achieve reliable in vivo cortical voltage imaging in transgenic mice.
- Category: VSD-FRET GEVI
- Published: 2008-06-25 — PLoS ONE 2008
- Derived from: VSFP2.1
- Response polarity: positive-going (fluorescence increases on depolarization)
- Spectrum: excitation peak 433 nm, emission peak 529 nm (VSFP2.3)
- Plasmid: Addgene #87948
- Tags: Ci-VSP, Cerulean/Citrine, FRET
Headline values (as shown in the GEVIBench table)
| Metric | Value | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness (B/B_EGFP) | 1.74× 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) | 49 / 70 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 | -8.3% (median of 2 measurements: −9.65%) | 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 | 0.15% (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 | 0.2% | 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) | — | Full width at half maximum of the optical spike waveform. |
| Photostability t75% @ 100 mW/mm² | — | 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) | 8 | 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 46.7 ms, τ_off 49.3 ms at 35°C — Lundby 2010, Table 1
- τ_on 72 ms, τ_off 70.6 ms at 30°C — Lundby 2010, Table 1
- τ_on 85.8 ms, τ_off 137 ms at 25°C — Lundby 2010, Table 1
- τ_on 51.6 ms, τ_off 91.6 ms at 35°C — Mishina 2014, Table 1
ΔF/F per 100 mV
- -8.3%, 1P — Mutoh 2009, Table 1
- +11%, 1P — Mishina 2014, Table 1
ΔF/F per action potential
- 0.2%, 1P — Akemann 2009, Main text
Brightness comparisons
- 1.74× the brightness of EGFP — doi:Estimated from Citrine QY=0.76, EC=77000 vs EGFP QY=0.60, EC=56000, FPbase
Fluorescence–voltage (F–V) curve
ΔF/F (%) at each membrane potential, normalized to 0 at −70 mV: -140 mV: -3.6%; -110 mV: -3.2%; -90 mV: -2.3%; -70 mV: 0%; -50 mV: 3.8%; -30 mV: 7.7%; -10 mV: 10.1%; 10 mV: 11%; 30 mV: 11.4%; 50 mV: 11.5%; 70 mV: 11.6% — Mutoh 2009, Fig. 3B
Research papers using VSFP2.3 (8)
- Engineering of a Genetically Encodable Fluorescent Voltage Sensor Exploiting Fast Ci-VSP Voltage-Sensing Movements — Lundby A, Mutoh H, Dimitrov D, Akemann W, Knöpfel T, PLoS ONE 2008 (PC12 cells, in vitro voltage clamp)
- Biophysical characterization of the fluorescent protein voltage probe VSFP2.3 based on the voltage-sensing domain of Ci-VSP — Lundby A, Akemann W, Knöpfel T, European Biophysics Journal 2010 (PC12 cells, in vitro voltage clamp + sensing current measurements at 25/30/35°C)
- Spectrally-resolved response properties of the three most advanced FRET based fluorescent protein voltage probes — Mutoh H, Perron A, Dimitrov D, Iwamoto Y, Akemann W, Chudakov DM, Knöpfel T, PLoS ONE 2009 (PC12 cells, in vitro voltage clamp, spectral characterization at 35°C)
- Imaging brain electric signals with genetically targeted voltage-sensitive fluorescent proteins — Akemann W, Mutoh H, Perron A, Rossier J, Knöpfel T, Nature Methods 2010 (Mouse, somatosensory cortex layer 2/3, in vivo + brain slices)
- Exploration of genetically encoded voltage indicators based on a chimeric voltage sensing domain — Mishina Y, Mutoh H, Song C, Knöpfel T, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience 2014 (PC12 and HEK cells, in vitro voltage clamp + mouse cortex in vivo)
- Comparative performance of a genetically-encoded voltage indicator and a blue voltage sensitive dye for large scale cortical voltage imaging — Mutoh H, Mishina Y, Gallero-Salas Y, Knöpfel T, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 2015 (Mouse, somatosensory cortex, in vivo anesthetized)
- Sensing Cardiac Electrical Activity With a Cardiac Myocyte-Targeted Optogenetic Voltage Indicator — Chang Liao ML, et al., Circulation Research 2015 (Mouse, heart cardiomyocytes and iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, in vitro + ex vivo + in vivo)
- Electrotonic coupling of excitable and nonexcitable cells in the heart revealed by optogenetics — Quinn TA, et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2016 (Mouse, heart myocytes and non-myocytes, ex vivo Langendorff-perfused hearts)
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.