Cellular resolution circuit mapping with temporal-focused excitation of soma-targeted channelrhodopsin

Nerve cells called neurons carry information around the body in the form of electrical impulses and pass signals to each another to form circuits that link different organs and tissues. Mapping out the neurons in the brain can reveal how different circuits contribute to an animal’s behavior. Yet, because the brains of mammals contain millions of neurons, these circuits are often difficult to untangle. One way to tease apart circuits of neurons uses a technique called optogenetics, which involves manipulating the genes inside neurons such that the cells produce a light-sensitive protein and respond to blasts of light. The aim is to activate a specific neuron and then see which other neurons are activated shortly afterwards, revealing a connected circuit. However, exposure to light can be imprecise. Also, the neurons in the brain are so densely packed that the nerve endings from neighboring neurons often overlap without actually being connected. This makes it unclear if activated neurons are truly part of the same circuit or simply bystanders reacting to the same nearby blast of light. To overcome this limitation, Baker et al. developed a new optogenetic approach with two important features. First, the approach makes use of a light-sensitive protein called channelrhodopsin that had been modified to confine it to the cell body of each neuron and exclude it from the nerve endings. Second, pulses of laser light were specifically shaped to target only the cell body of an individual neuron. Baker et al. show that this new method can activate neurons inside slices of mouse brain without affecting the neighboring neurons. This allowed circuits of neurons to be mapped in fine detail. This new optogenetic method is expected to shed light on the patterns of nerve signals that contribute to animal behavior. The approach may also be modified to use other light-sensitive proteins or investigate how neural circuits are altered in animal models of human disorders like autism and schizophrenia.