Department of Physiology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2012 Aug;28(4):423-34. doi: 10.1007/s12264-012-1250-6.
Optogenetics is a newly-introduced technology in the life sciences and is gaining increasing attention. It refers to the combination of optical technologies and genetic methods to control the activity of specific cell groups in living tissue, during which high-resolution spatial and temporal manipulation of cells is achieved. Optogenetics has been applied to numerous regions, including cerebral cortex, hippocampus, ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, striatum, spinal cord, and retina, and has revealed new directions of research in neuroscience and the treatment of related diseases. Since optogenetic tools are controllable at high spatial and temporal resolution, we discuss its applications in these regions in detail and the recent understanding of higher brain functions, such as reward-seeking, learning and memory, and sleep. Further, the possibilities of improved utility of this newly-emerging technology are discussed. We intend to provide a paradigm of the latest advances in neuroscience using optogenetics.
光遗传学是生命科学中引入的一项新技术,越来越受到关注。它是指光学技术和遗传方法的结合,用于控制活组织中特定细胞群的活动,在此过程中可以实现对细胞的高分辨率时空操纵。光遗传学已应用于许多领域,包括大脑皮层、海马体、腹侧被盖区、伏隔核、纹状体、脊髓和视网膜,并为神经科学和相关疾病的治疗揭示了新的研究方向。由于光遗传学工具具有可在高时空分辨率下控制的特性,我们详细讨论了它在这些区域的应用,以及对大脑高级功能(如寻求奖励、学习和记忆以及睡眠)的最新理解。此外,还讨论了这项新兴技术的改进应用的可能性。我们旨在提供一个使用光遗传学的神经科学最新进展范例。