Cargando…

Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals

One hundred and twenty-five years ago there was a lively discussion between Hungarian and Spanish neuroscientists on the nature of neural connections. The question was whether the neurofibrils run from one neuron to the next and connect neurons as a continuous network or the fibrils form an internal...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Vasziné Szabó, Enikő, Köves, Katalin, Csáki, Ágnes
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10572731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37833924
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914478
_version_ 1785120301897482240
author Vasziné Szabó, Enikő
Köves, Katalin
Csáki, Ágnes
author_facet Vasziné Szabó, Enikő
Köves, Katalin
Csáki, Ágnes
author_sort Vasziné Szabó, Enikő
collection PubMed
description One hundred and twenty-five years ago there was a lively discussion between Hungarian and Spanish neuroscientists on the nature of neural connections. The question was whether the neurofibrils run from one neuron to the next and connect neurons as a continuous network or the fibrils form an internal skeleton in the neurons and do not leave the cell; however, there is close contact between the neurons. About 50 years later, the invention of the electron microscope solved the problem. Close contacts between individual neurons were identified and named as synapses. In the following years, the need arose to explore distant connections between neuronal structures. Tracing techniques entered neuroscience. There are three major groups of tracers: (A) non-transsynaptic tracers used to find direct connections between two neuronal structures; (B) tracers passing gap junctions; (C) transsynaptic tracers passing synapses that are suitable to explore multineuronal circuits. According to the direction of the transport mechanism, the tracer may be ante- or retrograde. In this review, we focus on the ever-increasing number of fluorescent tracers that we have also used in our studies. The advantage of the use of these molecules is that the fluorescence of the tracer can be seen in histological sections without any other processes. Genes encoding fluorescent molecules can be inserted in various neuropeptide or neurotransmitter expressing transcriptomes. This makes it possible to study the anatomy, development or functional relations of these neuronal networks in transgenic animals.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10572731
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-105727312023-10-14 Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals Vasziné Szabó, Enikő Köves, Katalin Csáki, Ágnes Int J Mol Sci Review One hundred and twenty-five years ago there was a lively discussion between Hungarian and Spanish neuroscientists on the nature of neural connections. The question was whether the neurofibrils run from one neuron to the next and connect neurons as a continuous network or the fibrils form an internal skeleton in the neurons and do not leave the cell; however, there is close contact between the neurons. About 50 years later, the invention of the electron microscope solved the problem. Close contacts between individual neurons were identified and named as synapses. In the following years, the need arose to explore distant connections between neuronal structures. Tracing techniques entered neuroscience. There are three major groups of tracers: (A) non-transsynaptic tracers used to find direct connections between two neuronal structures; (B) tracers passing gap junctions; (C) transsynaptic tracers passing synapses that are suitable to explore multineuronal circuits. According to the direction of the transport mechanism, the tracer may be ante- or retrograde. In this review, we focus on the ever-increasing number of fluorescent tracers that we have also used in our studies. The advantage of the use of these molecules is that the fluorescence of the tracer can be seen in histological sections without any other processes. Genes encoding fluorescent molecules can be inserted in various neuropeptide or neurotransmitter expressing transcriptomes. This makes it possible to study the anatomy, development or functional relations of these neuronal networks in transgenic animals. MDPI 2023-09-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10572731/ /pubmed/37833924 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914478 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Vasziné Szabó, Enikő
Köves, Katalin
Csáki, Ágnes
Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals
title Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals
title_full Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals
title_fullStr Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals
title_full_unstemmed Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals
title_short Fluorescent Molecules That Help Reveal Previously Unidentified Neural Connections in Adult, Neonatal and Peripubertal Mammals
title_sort fluorescent molecules that help reveal previously unidentified neural connections in adult, neonatal and peripubertal mammals
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10572731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37833924
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914478
work_keys_str_mv AT vaszineszaboeniko fluorescentmoleculesthathelprevealpreviouslyunidentifiedneuralconnectionsinadultneonatalandperipubertalmammals
AT koveskatalin fluorescentmoleculesthathelprevealpreviouslyunidentifiedneuralconnectionsinadultneonatalandperipubertalmammals
AT csakiagnes fluorescentmoleculesthathelprevealpreviouslyunidentifiedneuralconnectionsinadultneonatalandperipubertalmammals