Fundamental brain functions are performed by subsets of neurons – neuronal circuits – that are classically defined as distinct networks of hundreds of neurons.
Controlling neuronal activity in subsets of neurons within a network will facilitate studies of neuronal development, functional anatomy, synaptogenesis, and synaptic plasticity as well as provide a framework for studies manipulating neuronal populations in vivo.
Transgenic mice expressing eGFP under population specific promoters are widely used in neuroscience to identify specific subsets of neurons in situ and as sensors of neuronal activity in vivo.
Here, we report the results of a novel approach to find and characterize neural circuits by expressing neuronal activators to stimulate subsets of neurons to induce behavior.
VEGF165 binds the transmembrane protein neuropilin 1 (NRP1) and promotes the migration, survival and axon guidance of subsets of neurons, whereas VEGF121 cannot activate NRP1-dependent neuronal responses.
These slower changes may be important considerations for studies using heterologous channels in vivo or for studies of neuronal circuit activity that utilize changes in activity of subsets of neurons for long periods.
At late stages, Plxdc2 is expressed in restricted subsets of neurons and discrete brain nuclei [8], [9], suggesting a possible role in specification of neuronal connectivity.
Surprisingly, the knockdown of catalytically essential subunits by pan-neuronal drivers, as well as drivers active in various different subsets of neurons, was non-lethal even in the absence of AOX (Fig. 4).
This powerful technique involves introducing light-sensitive algal proteins into specific subsets of neurons, enabling them to be controlled with unprecedented precision using pulses of laser light.
Genetically encoded fluorescent voltage sensors have long been desired to report voltage in defined subsets of neurons with optical readout.
According to information processing-based theories, perceptions, thoughts, and actions are represented and, importantly, stored in the brain by the activity of specific subsets of neurons.
