Publications by authors named "Danwei Weng"
Astrocytes release ATP/ADP and glutamate in flashes via vesicular exocytosis.
Mol Psychiatry
November 2024
Astrocytes regulate brain functions through gliotransmitters like ATP/ADP and glutamate, but their release patterns and mechanisms remain controversial. Here, we visualized ATP/ADP and glutamate response following astrocyte activation and investigated their mechanisms in vivo. Employing cOpn5-mediated optogenetic stimulation, genetically encoded fluorescent sensors, and two-photon imaging, we observed ATP/ADP released as temporally prolonged and spatially extended flashes that later converted to adenosine.
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- G-coupled receptors modulate various bodily functions by activating enzymes and increasing intracellular calcium levels, leading to a demand for an advanced optogenetic tool for controlling G-signaling.
- The study introduces chicken opsin 5 (cOpn5) as a single-component optogenetic tool that allows precise, light-triggered control of G-signaling, showing effectiveness in HEK 293T cells and mouse astrocytes.
- cOpn5 enables rapid calcium release and protein activation with brief blue light pulses, showcasing high spatial resolution, and has potential applications in controlling neuronal activity and studying G-signaling across different cell types and organ systems.
Heroin, nicotine, cocaine, and MDMA are abused by billions of people. They are believed to target midbrain dopamine neurons and/or serotonin neurons, but their effects on the dynamic neuronal activity remain unclear in behaving states. By combining cell-type-specific fiber photometry of Ca signals and intravenous drug infusion, here we show that these four drugs of abuse profoundly modulate the activity of mouse midbrain dopamine neurons and serotonin neurons with distinct potency and kinetics.
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