The atomic structure of GtACR1 provides new insight into the chemical mechanism of natural light-gated anion membrane conductance, and enables its optimization for optogenetic photoinhibition of neuron firing.
Optogenetic techniques, whereby light is used to activate neuronal cells, are quickly becoming widely used in neuroscience; but excessive exposure to light can actually silence certain types of neuronal cells.
Combining spatial restriction of channelrhodopsin to the neuronal cell body with two photon excitation and calcium imaging will enable production of high resolution maps of neural circuitry.
Research into light-gated ion channels called channelrhodospins laid the foundations for the development of optogenetics, a technique that has gone on to revolutionize neuroscience.
Optogenetics has revealed that synaptic vesicles can be recycled extremely rapidly in nematodes, indicating that existing models for how synapses 'reload' may need to be revised.
A near-infrared light-stimulable optogenetic platform enables remote and wireless manipulation of calcium signaling and immune responses both in vitro and in vivo to achieve tailored function.
Avoiding danger requires inhibitory signaling in the prelimbic prefrontal cortex, as evidenced by optogenetic manipulations based on neuronal firing patterns.
Delayed inhibition precisely balances excitation from arbitrary combinations of CA3 neurons and controls the gain of CA1 output by reducing inhibitory delay with increasing excitation.
Ascending and descending cortico-cortical inputs are stronger on projection neurons that project back to the source of the inputs, forming selective interareal loops in deep but not superficial cortical layers.
