Chemical Targeting of Voltage Sensitive Dyes to Specific Cells and Molecules in the Brain.

ABSTRACT: Voltage sensitive fluorescent dyes (VSDs) are important tools for probing signal transduction in neurons and other excitable cells. The impact of these highly lipophilic sensors has, however, been limited due to the lack of cell-specific targeting methods in brain tissue or living animals. We address this key challenge by introducing a nongenetic molecular platform for cell- and molecule-specific targeting of synthetic VSDs in the brain. We employ a dextran polymer particle to overcome the inherent lipophilicity of VSDs by dynamic encapsulation and high-affinity ligands to target the construct to specific neuronal cells utilizing only native components of the neurotransmission machinery at physiological expression levels. Dichloropane, a monoamine transporter ligand, enables targeting of d

SUBMITTER: Fiala T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7750015 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature