Optogenetic approaches addressing extracellular modulation of neural excitability.

ABSTRACT: The extracellular ionic environment in neural tissue has the capacity to influence, and be influenced by, natural bouts of neural activity. We employed optogenetic approaches to control and investigate these interactions within and between cells, and across spatial scales. We began by developing a temporally precise means to study microdomain-scale interactions between extracellular protons and acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs). By coupling single-component proton-transporting optogenetic tools to ASICs to create two-component optogenetic constructs (TCOs), we found that acidification of the local extracellular membrane surface by a light-activated proton pump recruited a slow inward ASIC current, which required molecular proximity of the two components on the membrane. To elicit more glob

SUBMITTER: Ferenczi EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4820717 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature