Neuroscientists have perfected a chemical-genetic remote control for brain circuitry and behavior.  This evolving technology can now sequentially switch the same neurons – and the behaviors they mediate – on-and-off in mice, say researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Such bidirectional control is pivotal for decoding the brain workings of complex behaviors. The findings are the first to be published from the first wave of NIH grants awarded last fall under the BRAIN Initiative.
Research: "A new DREADD facilitates the multiplexed chemogenetic interrogation of behavior" by Eyal Vardy, J. Elliott Robinson, Chia Li, Reid H.J. Olsen, Jeffrey F. DiBerto, Patrick M. Giguere, Flori M. Sassano, Xi-Ping Huang, Hu Zhu, Daniel J. Urban, Kate L. White, Joseph E. Rittiner, Nicole A. Crowley, Kristen E. Pleil, Christopher M. Mazzone, Philip D. Mosier, Juan Song, Thomas L. Kash, C.J. Malanga, Michael J. Krashes, and Bryan L. Roth in Neuron doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.03.065
Image: The updated DREADD (Designer Receptors Activated Exclusively by Designer Drugs) achieves bidirectional remote control of a neuron (bottom) and behavior by introducing a synthetic, experimental chemical messenger system into specific brain circuits in mice. It consists of a receptor protein (top) and matching inert chemical (middle) for increasing neuronal activity (red) and another set for reducing activity (blue). Image credit: Bryan Roth, Ph.D., University of North Carolina.
