A new method enables researchers to watch the synaptic activity of groups of neurons in REAL TIME, in a live brain. (check out video links related to this article below)
Aug. 8, 2013 — Scientists
used fruit flies to show for the first time that a new class of
genetically engineered proteins can be used to watch electrical activity
in individual brain cells in live brains. The results, published in Cell,
suggest these proteins may be a promising new tool for mapping brain
cell activity in multiple animals and for studying how neurological
disorders disrupt normal nerve cell signaling. Understanding brain cell
activity is a high priority of the President's Brain Research through
Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.
Brain cells use electricity to control thoughts, movements and
senses. Ever since the late nineteenth century, when Dr. Luigi Galvani
induced frog legs to move with electric shocks, scientists have been
trying to watch nerve cell electricity to understand how it is involved
in these actions. Usually they directly mo nitor electricity with
cumbersome electrodes or toxic voltage-sensitive dyes, or indirectly
with calcium detectors. This study, led by Michael Nitabach, Ph.D.,
J.D., and Vincent Pieribone, Ph.D., at the Yale School of Medicine, New
Haven, CT, shows that a class of proteins, called genetically encoded
fluorescent voltage indicators (GEVIs), may allow researchers to watch
nerve cell electricity in a live animal.
Dr. Pieribone and his colleagues helped develop ArcLight, the protein used in this study. ArcLight fluoresces, or glows, as a nerve cell's voltage changes and enables researchers to watch, in real time, the cell's electrical activity. In this study, Dr. Nitabach and his colleagues engineered fruit flies to express ArcLight in brain cells that control the fly's sleeping cycle or sense of smell. Initial experiments in which the researchers simultaneously watched brain cell electricity with a microscope and recorded voltage with electrodes showed that ArcLight can accurately monitor electricity in a living brain. Further experiments showed that ArcLight illuminated electricity in parts of the brain that were previously inaccessible using other techniques. Finally, ArcLight allowed the researchers to watch brain cells spark and fire while the flies were awakening and smelling. These results suggest that in the future neuroscientists may be able to use ArcLight and similar GEVIs in a variety of ways to map brain cell circuit activity during normal and disease states.
This study was supported by grants from NINDS (NS055035, NS056443, NS083875, NS057631, NS083875) and NIGMS (GM098931).
GEVIs and other sensors are being developed by a group of NINDS-funded researchers who are part of the Fluorogenetic Voltage Sensors Consortium. The consortium was partly funded with grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Link 2: Lighting a path to understanding the brain's 'language'
weblink : Click here (Image and article courtesy of sciencedaily.com)
Original journal paper link : Genetically Targeted Optical Electrophysiology in Intact Neural Circuits
Dr. Pieribone and his colleagues helped develop ArcLight, the protein used in this study. ArcLight fluoresces, or glows, as a nerve cell's voltage changes and enables researchers to watch, in real time, the cell's electrical activity. In this study, Dr. Nitabach and his colleagues engineered fruit flies to express ArcLight in brain cells that control the fly's sleeping cycle or sense of smell. Initial experiments in which the researchers simultaneously watched brain cell electricity with a microscope and recorded voltage with electrodes showed that ArcLight can accurately monitor electricity in a living brain. Further experiments showed that ArcLight illuminated electricity in parts of the brain that were previously inaccessible using other techniques. Finally, ArcLight allowed the researchers to watch brain cells spark and fire while the flies were awakening and smelling. These results suggest that in the future neuroscientists may be able to use ArcLight and similar GEVIs in a variety of ways to map brain cell circuit activity during normal and disease states.
This study was supported by grants from NINDS (NS055035, NS056443, NS083875, NS057631, NS083875) and NIGMS (GM098931).
GEVIs and other sensors are being developed by a group of NINDS-funded researchers who are part of the Fluorogenetic Voltage Sensors Consortium. The consortium was partly funded with grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The
Electric Fly Brain Comes Alive. Scientists used a new protein, called
ArcLight, to watch nerve cell electricity in a live fly brain. (Credit:
Courtesy of Nitabach Lab, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT)
For more information go to: http://www.fluorogenetic-voltage-sensors.org/
Video: Link 1: Mutant Fly Brain FiringLink 2: Lighting a path to understanding the brain's 'language'
weblink : Click here (Image and article courtesy of sciencedaily.com)
Original journal paper link : Genetically Targeted Optical Electrophysiology in Intact Neural Circuits
No comments:
Post a Comment