A viral strategy for targeting and manipulating interneurons across vertebrate species.

Nat Neurosci
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

A fundamental impediment to understanding the brain is the availability of inexpensive and robust methods for targeting and manipulating specific neuronal populations. The need to overcome this barrier is pressing because there are considerable anatomical, physiological, cognitive and behavioral differences between mice and higher mammalian species in which it is difficult to specifically target and manipulate genetically defined functional cell types. In particular, it is unclear the degree to which insights from mouse models can shed light on the neural mechanisms that mediate cognitive functions in higher species, including humans. Here we describe a novel recombinant adeno-associated virus that restricts gene expression to GABAergic interneurons within the telencephalon. We demonstrate that the viral expression is specific and robust, allowing for morphological visualization, activity monitoring and functional manipulation of interneurons in both mice and non-genetically tractable species, thus opening the possibility to study GABAergic function in virtually any vertebrate species.

Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Nat Neurosci
Volume
19
Issue
12
Pages
1743-1749
Date Published
2016 12
ISSN
1546-1726
DOI
10.1038/nn.4430
PubMed ID
27798629
PubMed Central ID
PMC5348112
Links
Grant list
T32 MH096331 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
P01 NS074972 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States
R01 EY022577 / EY / NEI NIH HHS / United States
R01 MH071679 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
R01 DC011284 / DC / NIDCD NIH HHS / United States
R21 NS093987 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States
R01 EY011488 / EY / NEI NIH HHS / United States
R01 MH063912 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
R01 MH095147 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
R01 MH066912 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States