Osteocytes are the main mechanosensory cells during orthodontic and physiologic bone remodeling. However, the question of how osteocytes transmit mechanical stimuli to biological responses remains largely unanswered. Intraflagellar transport (IFT) proteins are important for the formation and function of cilia, which are proposed to be mechanical sensors in osteocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImaging membrane voltage from genetically defined cells offers the unique ability to report spatial and temporal dynamics of electrical signaling at cellular and circuit levels. Here, we present a general approach to engineer electrochromic fluorescence resonance energy transfer (eFRET) genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) with positive-going fluorescence response to membrane depolarization through rational manipulation of the native proton transport pathway in microbial rhodopsins. We transform the state-of-the-art eFRET GEVI Voltron into Positron, with kinetics and sensitivity equivalent to Voltron but flipped fluorescence signal polarity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFemtosecond lasers at fixed wavelengths above 1,000 nm are powerful, stable and inexpensive, making them promising sources for two-photon microscopy. Biosensors optimized for these wavelengths are needed for both next-generation microscopes and affordable turn-key systems. Here we report jYCaMP1, a yellow variant of the calcium indicator jGCaMP7 that outperforms its parent in mice and flies at excitation wavelengths above 1,000 nm and enables improved two-color calcium imaging with red fluorescent protein-based indicators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBone is a major storage site as well as an endogenous source of lead in the human body. Dietary sodium and potassium intake may play a role in the mobilization of lead from bone to the circulation. We examined whether association between bone lead and urinary lead, a marker of mobilized lead in plasma, was modified by dietary intake of sodium and potassium among 318 men, aged 48-93 years, in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Normative Aging Study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the online version of the article [ 1 ], Figure S1 was mistakenly replaced with Figure 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalcium imaging with genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) is routinely used to measure neural activity in intact nervous systems. GECIs are frequently used in one of two different modes: to track activity in large populations of neuronal cell bodies, or to follow dynamics in subcellular compartments such as axons, dendrites and individual synaptic compartments. Despite major advances, calcium imaging is still limited by the biophysical properties of existing GECIs, including affinity, signal-to-noise ratio, rise and decay kinetics and dynamic range.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalcium imaging is commonly used to measure the neural activity of large groups of neurons in mice. Genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) can be delivered for this purpose using non-invasive genetic methods. Compared to viral gene transfer, transgenic targeting of GECIs provides stable long-term expression and obviates the need for invasive viral injections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Genetically encoded calcium ion (Ca) indicators (GECIs) are indispensable tools for measuring Ca dynamics and neuronal activities in vitro and in vivo. Red fluorescent protein (RFP)-based GECIs have inherent advantages relative to green fluorescent protein-based GECIs due to the longer wavelength light used for excitation. Longer wavelength light is associated with decreased phototoxicity and deeper penetration through tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The aim of this study was to evaluate bone resorption quantitatively during the healing period subsequent to ridge augmentation.
Materials And Methods: Sixteen patients requiring vertical ridge augmentation before implant placement were recruited in the study. The study used an allograft and nonresorbable membrane.
Many animals orient using visual cues, but how a single cue is selected from among many is poorly understood. Here we show that Drosophila ring neurons-central brain neurons implicated in navigation-display visual stimulus selection. Using in vivo two-color two-photon imaging with genetically encoded calcium indicators, we demonstrate that individual ring neurons inherit simple-cell-like receptive fields from their upstream partners.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) extends throughout axons and axonal ER dysfunction is implicated in numerous neurological diseases, its role at nerve terminals is poorly understood. We developed novel genetically encoded ER-targeted low-affinity Ca indicators optimized for examining axonal ER Ca. Our experiments revealed that presynaptic function is tightly controlled by ER Ca content.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrange-red fluorescent proteins (FPs) are widely used in biomedical research for multiplexed epifluorescence microscopy with GFP-based probes, but their different excitation requirements make multiplexing with new advanced microscopy methods difficult. Separately, orange-red FPs are useful for deep-tissue imaging in mammals owing to the relative tissue transmissibility of orange-red light, but their dependence on illumination limits their sensitivity as reporters in deep tissues. Here we describe CyOFP1, a bright, engineered, orange-red FP that is excitable by cyan light.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) allow measurement of activity in large populations of neurons and in small neuronal compartments, over times of milliseconds to months. Although GFP-based GECIs are widely used for in vivo neurophysiology, GECIs with red-shifted excitation and emission spectra have advantages for in vivo imaging because of reduced scattering and absorption in tissue, and a consequent reduction in phototoxicity. However, current red GECIs are inferior to the state-of-the-art GFP-based GCaMP6 indicators for detecting and quantifying neural activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndoplasmic reticulum calcium homeostasis is critical for cellular functions and is disrupted in diverse pathologies including neurodegeneration and cardiovascular disease. Owing to the high concentration of calcium within the ER, studying this subcellular compartment requires tools that are optimized for these conditions. To develop a single-fluorophore genetically encoded calcium indicator for this organelle, we targeted a low affinity variant of GCaMP3 to the ER lumen (GCaMPer (10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mouse has become an important model for understanding the neural basis of visual perception. Although it has long been known that mouse lens transmits ultraviolet (UV) light and mouse opsins have absorption in the UV band, little is known about how UV visual information is processed in the mouse brain. Using a custom UV stimulation system and in vivo calcium imaging, we characterized the feature selectivity of layer 2/3 neurons in mouse primary visual cortex (V1).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe identification of active neurons and circuits in vivo is a fundamental challenge in understanding the neural basis of behavior. Genetically encoded calcium (Ca(2+)) indicators (GECIs) enable quantitative monitoring of cellular-resolution activity during behavior. However, such indicators require online monitoring within a limited field of view.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetically-encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) facilitate imaging activity of genetically defined neuronal populations in vivo. The high intracellular GECI concentrations required for in vivo imaging are usually achieved by viral gene transfer using adeno-associated viruses. Transgenic expression of GECIs promises important advantages, including homogeneous, repeatable, and stable expression without the need for invasive virus injections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe an adaptive optics method that modulates the intensity or phase of light rays at multiple pupil segments in parallel to determine the sample-induced aberration. Applicable to fluorescent protein-labeled structures of arbitrary complexity, it allowed us to obtain diffraction-limited resolution in various samples in vivo. For the strongly scattering mouse brain, a single aberration correction improved structural and functional imaging of fine neuronal processes over a large imaging volume.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Maf-family leucine zipper transcription factor NRL is essential for rod photoreceptor development and functional maintenance in the mammalian retina. Mutations in NRL are associated with human retinopathies, and loss of Nrl in mice leads to a cone-only retina with the complete absence of rods. Among the highly down-regulated genes in the Nrl(-/-) retina, we identified receptor expression enhancing protein 6 (Reep6), which encodes a member of a family of proteins involved in shaping of membrane tubules and transport of G-protein coupled receptors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe quality of genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) has improved dramatically in recent years, but high-performing ratiometric indicators are still rare. Here we describe a series of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based calcium biosensors with a reduced number of calcium binding sites per sensor. These 'Twitch' sensors are based on the C-terminal domain of Opsanus troponin C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFluorescent protein-based sensors for detecting neuronal activity have been developed largely based on non-neuronal screening systems. However, the dynamics of neuronal state variables (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFluorescent calcium sensors are widely used to image neural activity. Using structure-based mutagenesis and neuron-based screening, we developed a family of ultrasensitive protein calcium sensors (GCaMP6) that outperformed other sensors in cultured neurons and in zebrafish, flies and mice in vivo. In layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons of the mouse visual cortex, GCaMP6 reliably detected single action potentials in neuronal somata and orientation-tuned synaptic calcium transients in individual dendritic spines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) are powerful tools for systems neuroscience. Here we describe red, single-wavelength GECIs, "RCaMPs," engineered from circular permutation of the thermostable red fluorescent protein mRuby. High-resolution crystal structures of mRuby, the red sensor RCaMP, and the recently published red GECI R-GECO1 give insight into the chromophore environments of the Ca(2+)-bound state of the sensors and the engineered protein domain interfaces of the different indicators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) are powerful tools for systems neuroscience. Recent efforts in protein engineering have significantly increased the performance of GECIs. The state-of-the art single-wavelength GECI, GCaMP3, has been deployed in a number of model organisms and can reliably detect three or more action potentials in short bursts in several systems in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA stringent control of homeostasis is critical for functional maintenance and survival of neurons. In the mammalian retina, the basic motif leucine zipper transcription factor NRL determines rod versus cone photoreceptor cell fate and activates the expression of many rod-specific genes. Here, we report an integrated analysis of NRL-centered gene regulatory network by coupling chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-Seq) data from Illumina and ABI platforms with global expression profiling and in vivo knockdown studies.
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