The Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
The Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
Life Sci. 2016 Apr 1;150:95-102. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2016.02.057. Epub 2016 Feb 21.
Since the introduction of Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) to neuroscience, optogenetics technology was developed, making it possible to activate specific neurons or circuits with spatial and temporal precision. Various ChR2 transgenic animal models have been generated and are playing important roles in revealing the mechanisms of neural activities, mapping neural circuits, controlling the behaviors of animals as well as exploring new strategy for treating the neurological diseases in both central and peripheral nervous system. An animal including humans senses environments through Aristotle's five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). Usually, each sense is associated with a kind of sensory organ (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin). Is it possible that one could hear light, smell light, taste light and touch light? When ChR2 is targeted to different peripheral sensory neurons by viral vectors or generating ChR2 transgenic animals, the animals can sense the light as various sensations such as hearing, touch, pain, smell and taste. In this review, we focus on ChR2 transgenic animals in the peripheral nervous system. Firstly the working principle of ChR2 as an optogenetic actuator is simply described. Then the current transgenic animal lines where ChR2 was expressed in peripheral sensory neurons are presented and the findings obtained by these animal models are reviewed.
自从通道视紫红质-2（ChR2）被引入神经科学以来，光遗传学技术得到了发展，使得可以精确地激活特定的神经元或电路，具有时空精度。已经产生了各种 ChR2 转基因动物模型，它们在揭示神经活动的机制、绘制神经回路、控制动物行为以及探索治疗中枢和外周神经系统神经疾病的新策略方面发挥着重要作用。包括人类在内的动物通过亚里士多德的五种感官（视觉、听觉、嗅觉、味觉和触觉）感知环境。通常，每种感觉都与一种感觉器官（眼睛、耳朵、鼻子、舌头和皮肤）相关联。人有可能听到光、闻到光、尝到光、摸到光吗？当病毒载体将 ChR2 靶向不同的外周感觉神经元或产生 ChR2 转基因动物时，动物可以将光感知为各种感觉，如听觉、触觉、疼痛、嗅觉和味觉。在这篇综述中，我们专注于外周神经系统中的 ChR2 转基因动物。首先简单描述了 ChR2 作为光遗传学执行器的工作原理。然后介绍了在周围感觉神经元中表达 ChR2 的当前转基因动物系，并回顾了这些动物模型的研究结果。
