AI Article Synopsis
- Using optogenetics, researchers studied respiratory neuron networks in neonatal rats by creating a transgenic rat line with specific light-sensitive proteins.
- They found that photostimulation could either inhibit or facilitate the respiratory rhythm based on the type of light-sensitive protein expressed in the neurons.
- The results suggest that optogenetics is a valuable technique for exploring the interactions within local neuronal networks that control breathing in the brainstem.
Article Abstract
Using an optogenetic approach, we analyzed a local neuron network of the respiratory center in the medulla of a brainstem-spinal cord preparation isolated from neonatal rat. We developed a transgenic (Tg) rat line in which Phox2b-positive cells expressed archaerhodopsin-3 (Arch) or one of the step-function channelrhodopsin variants (ChRFR) under the control of Phox2b promoter-enhancer regions. Then, in en bloc preparations from 0- to 2-day-old Tg neonatal rats, we analyzed membrane potential changes of medullary respiratory-related neurons in response to photostimulation of the rostral ventral medulla. The photostimulation-induced inhibition or facilitation of the respiratory rhythm in Arch-expressing or ChRFR-expressing Tg rat preparations, respectively. Selective photoactivation of Phox2b-positive neurons expressing ChRFR in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of a neonatal rat en bloc preparation induced membrane potential changes of respiratory-related neurons that were dependent on heterogeneous properties of synaptic connections in the respiratory center. We concluded that the optogenetic approach is a powerful method of verifying a hypothetical model of local networks among respiratory-related neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of neonatal rat.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8763-4_29 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Suppression of epileptic seizures by transcranial activation of K-selective channelrhodopsin.
Nat Commun
January 2025
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Systems Biology, and Brain Research Center, Department of Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Optogenetics is a valuable tool for studying the mechanisms of neurological diseases and is now being developed for therapeutic applications. In rodents and macaques, improved channelrhodopsins have been applied to achieve transcranial optogenetic stimulation. While transcranial photoexcitation of neurons has been achieved, noninvasive optogenetic inhibition for treating hyperexcitability-induced neurological disorders has remained elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActivity of a descending neuron associated with visually elicited flight saccades in Drosophila.
Curr Biol
January 2025
Research Group Neurobiology of Flight Control, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar, 53175 Bonn, Germany. Electronic address:
Approaching threats are perceived through visual looming, a rapid expansion of an image on the retina. Visual looming triggers defensive responses such as freezing, flight, turning, or take-off in a wide variety of organisms, from mice to fish to insects. In response to looming, flies perform rapid evasive turns known as saccades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeeing in the Future - a Perspective on Combining Light with Chemical Biology Approaches to Treat Retinal Pathologies.
ChemMedChem
January 2025
Department of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55128, Mainz, Germany.
New concepts to treat eye diseases have emerged that elegantly combine unnatural light exposure with chemical biology approaches to achieve superior cellular specificity and, as a result, improvement of visual function. Historically, light exposure without further molecular eye treatment has offered limited success including photocoagulation to halt pathological blood vessel growth or low light exposure to stimulate retinal cell viability. To add cellular specificity to such treatments, researchers have introduced various biological or chemical light-sensing molecules and combined those with light exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFModular Photoswitchable Molecular Glues for Chemo-optogenetic Control of Protein Function in Living Cells.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
January 2025
Umeå Universitet: Umea Universitet, Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, 90187, Umeå, SWEDEN.
Optogenetic systems using photosensitive proteins and chemically induced dimerization/proximity (CID/CIP) approaches enabled by chemical dimerizers (also termed molecular glues), are powerful tools to elucidate the dynamics of biological systems and to dissect complex biological regulatory networks. Here, we report a versatile chemo-optogenetic system using modular, photoswitchable molecular glues (sMGs) that can undergo repeated cycles of optical control to switch protein function on and off. We use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to rationally design the sMGs and further expand their scope by incorporating different photoswitches, resulting in sMGs with customizable properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptogenetic control of horizontally acquired genes prevent stuck fermentations in yeast.
Microbiol Spectr
January 2025
Laboratorio de Genómica Funcional, Instituto de Bioquímica y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.
Nitrogen limitations in the grape must be the main cause of stuck fermentations during the winemaking process. In , a genetic segment known as region A, which harbors 12 protein-coding genes, was acquired horizontally from a phylogenetically distant yeast species. This region is mainly present in the genome of wine yeast strains, carrying genes that have been associated with nitrogen utilization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!