Long-term labeling and imaging of synaptically connected neuronal networks in vivo using double-deletion-mutant rabies viruses.

ABSTRACT: Rabies-virus-based monosynaptic tracing is a widely used technique for mapping neural circuitry, but its cytotoxicity has confined it primarily to anatomical applications. Here we present a second-generation system for labeling direct inputs to targeted neuronal populations with minimal toxicity, using double-deletion-mutant rabies viruses. Viral spread requires expression of both deleted viral genes in trans in postsynaptic source cells. Suppressing this expression with doxycycline following an initial period of viral replication reduces toxicity to postsynaptic cells. Longitudinal two-photon imaging in vivo indicated that over 90% of both presynaptic and source cells survived for the full 12-week course of imaging. Ex vivo whole-cell recordings at 5 weeks postinfection showed that the se

SUBMITTER: Jin L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10849964 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature