Center for Neuroscience, and Department of Psychiatry of First Affiliated Hospital, NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology, Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310012, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2019 Jun;35(3):369-377. doi: 10.1007/s12264-018-0291-x. Epub 2018 Sep 26.
Immediate-early genes (IEGs) have long been used to visualize neural activations induced by sensory and behavioral stimuli. Recent advances in imaging techniques have made it possible to use endogenous IEG signals to visualize and discriminate neural ensembles activated by multiple stimuli, and to map whole-brain-scale neural activation at single-neuron resolution. In addition, a collection of IEG-dependent molecular tools has been developed that can be used to complement the labeling of endogenous IEG genes and, especially, to manipulate activated neural ensembles in order to reveal the circuits and mechanisms underlying different behaviors. Here, we review these techniques and tools in terms of their utility in studying functional neural circuits. In addition, we provide an experimental strategy to measure the signal-to-noise ratio of IEG-dependent molecular tools, for evaluating their suitability for investigating relevant circuits and behaviors.
立即早期基因（IEG）长期以来一直被用于可视化感官和行为刺激引起的神经激活。成像技术的最新进展使得可以使用内源性 IEG 信号来可视化和区分多个刺激激活的神经集合，并以单个神经元分辨率绘制全脑范围的神经激活图。此外，还开发了一系列依赖 IEG 的分子工具，可用于补充内源性 IEG 基因的标记，特别是用于操纵激活的神经集合，以揭示不同行为背后的电路和机制。在这里，我们根据它们在研究功能神经回路中的实用性来评估这些技术和工具。此外，我们提供了一种实验策略来测量依赖 IEG 的分子工具的信噪比，以评估它们是否适合研究相关电路和行为。
