I have been working all year to get an image similar to this. This is a photo of a whole mounted retina taken by a con-focal microscope using a water-immersion lens. It shows astrocytes (the spidery looking cells) loaded with a calcium dye. And the great thing is that you can clearly see their processes extending to the blood vessels! But even better, when we put some potassium chloride (a stimulant) into the buffer, the cells changed their brightness!!! That indicates that intracellular levels of calcium increases within astrocytes in response to stimulation, a finding that has been found by others! Now all I have to do is figure out what that means...But regardless, a big step forward.
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