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All-Optical Assay to Study Biological Neural Networks

We introduce a novel all-optical assay for functional studies of biological neural networks in vitro. We created a novel optogenetic construct named OptoCaMP which is a combination of a channelrhodopsin variant (CheRiff) and a red genetically encoded calcium indicator (GECI) (jRCaMP1b). It enables s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Afshar Saber, Wardiya, Gasparoli, Federico M., Dirks, Marjet G., Gunn-Moore, Frank J., Antkowiak, Maciej
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041400/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30026684
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00451
Descripción
Sumario:We introduce a novel all-optical assay for functional studies of biological neural networks in vitro. We created a novel optogenetic construct named OptoCaMP which is a combination of a channelrhodopsin variant (CheRiff) and a red genetically encoded calcium indicator (GECI) (jRCaMP1b). It enables simultaneous optical stimulation and recording from large population of neurons with single-cell readout. Additionally, we have developed a spatio-temporal all-optical assay to simultaneously stimulate a sub-section of a neural network and record evoked calcium activity, in both stimulated and non-stimulated neurons, thus allowing the investigation of the spread of excitation through an interconnected network. Finally, we demonstrate the sensitivity of this assay to the change of neural network connectivity.