Activity regulation in the study of neural plasticity

Abstract

Needless to say, optogenetics has been popular in the manipulation of neural activities in a specific neuron expressing a photosensitive molecule, called rhodopsin. In the neural plasticity field, researchers have been trying to use this tool to precisely manipulate neural activities spatially and chronically. At the same time, optogenetics has helped us regulate the neural activity of a specific neuron expressing a particular gene of interest, such as the inhibitory interneuron for glutamic acid decarboxylases GADs, because a transfected rhodopsin is regulated under a particular promoter of interest. The nature of this tool allows us to control the expression of rhodopsin in the specific neurons in living brain. This means optogenetics helps us to observe animals behavior, such as memory and learning, after stimulating or inhibiting the activities of a neural network in the brain. Optogenetics will be more powerful tool to elucidate the relationship between neural activity and behavior, including neural plasticity. In this chapter, I introduce you to some of examples of optogenetics in neural plasticity research.