Cell Type–specific Channelrhodopsin-2 Transgenic Mice for Optogenetic Dissection of Neural Circuitry Function

Overview

Journal Nat Methods

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
Pathology

Date 2011 Oct 11

PMID 21985008

Citations 368

Authors

Shengli Zhao

Jonathan T Ting

Hisham E Atallah

Li Qiu

Jie Tan

Bernd Gloss

George J Augustine

Karl Deisseroth

Minmin Luo

Ann M Graybiel

Guoping Feng

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Optogenetic methods have emerged as powerful tools for dissecting neural circuit connectivity, function and dysfunction. We used a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgenic strategy to express the H134R variant of channelrhodopsin-2, ChR2(H134R), under the control of cell type–specific promoter elements. We performed an extensive functional characterization of the newly established VGAT-ChR2(H134R)-EYFP, ChAT-ChR2(H134R)-EYFP, Tph2-ChR2(H134R)-EYFP and Pvalb(H134R)-ChR2-EYFP BAC transgenic mouse lines and demonstrate the utility of these lines for precisely controlling action-potential firing of GABAergic, cholinergic, serotonergic and parvalbumin-expressing neuron subsets using blue light. This resource of cell type–specific ChR2(H134R) mouse lines will facilitate the precise mapping of neuronal connectivity and the dissection of the neural basis of behavior.

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