Huang Zeyi, Peng Li, Zheng Chunfu, Sun Wuping
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Methods Mol Biol. 2025;2940:207-213. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4615-1_19.
Abnormalities in the structure and function of neural circuits can disrupt normal physiological processes, leading to various disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD), which are closely associated with dysfunctions within brain neural circuits. Elucidating the architecture of these circuits is fundamental for understanding the mechanisms underlying information processing in the brain, facilitating investigations into the pathogenesis of diverse neurological diseases, and providing a theoretical foundation for their prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Viral tracers have been instrumental in identifying novel neural circuits or revealing new properties of established circuits. Compared with small-molecule compounds and peptide tracers, neurotropic viruses offer several advantages as neural circuit tracers: first, they possess self-replicative capabilities that enable signal amplification; second, they can label both upstream and downstream neurons across synapses; and third, they are capable of delivering foreign genes into neuronal cells. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) stands out as a significant member among neurotropic viruses because of its unique neurotropic characteristics and transneuronal transmission properties, making it an ideal tool for tracing neural circuits.
神经回路的结构和功能异常会扰乱正常生理过程，导致各种疾病，如阿尔茨海默病（AD）和帕金森病（PD），这些疾病与脑内神经回路功能障碍密切相关。阐明这些回路的结构对于理解大脑信息处理的潜在机制、促进对各种神经疾病发病机制的研究以及为其预防、诊断和治疗提供理论基础至关重要。病毒示踪剂在识别新型神经回路或揭示已建立回路的新特性方面发挥了重要作用。与小分子化合物和肽示踪剂相比，嗜神经病毒作为神经回路示踪剂具有几个优势：第一，它们具有自我复制能力，能够实现信号放大；第二，它们可以标记突触上下游的神经元；第三，它们能够将外源基因传递到神经元细胞中。单纯疱疹病毒1型（HSV-1）因其独特的嗜神经特性和跨神经元传播特性，成为嗜神经病毒中的重要成员，使其成为追踪神经回路的理想工具。
