Video on optogenetic neural stimulation in experimental neuroscience

As I have mentioned before, my field of research focus and interest is neuroscience. One of the most interesting and exciting areas of investigation, in my opinion, is the use of optogenetics to identify neuronal function, effects of neural excitability on regeneration and other cool aspects of neuronal circuitry and anatomical/functional integration. This is not my area of expertise, but generally, the concept is simple in that mice are generated with genetic modifications that allow neurons in the nervous system to express light-sensitive channels (channelrhodopsin) on the neurons that all them to be turned on and off with application of light wavelengths. These channels allow neurons to respond to light as they would normally to neurochemical signals, sort of how the neurons in your retina are activated by light. There is more to it than that of course, but it is one of those things that is difficult to explain in words. Well, there is a journal online known as the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JOVE) that provides videos of many experimental procedures, models, and other topics and methods that really are better comprehended when described visually. A recent JOVE video article was published by Sidor et al. entitled, In vivo Optogenetic Stimulation of the Rodent Central Nervous System that really does a good job of describing how optogenetic rodent models are made and how they are utilized in research. For anyone who thinks this topic sounds interesting, this video is a treat. It is open access, which means it is free to watch and requires no subscription, so I recommend it to anyone who is interested as most JOVE videos are not open access. JOVE is a great resource for scientists and non-scientists alike, so if you like this educational resource, I recommend searching for other open access video articles on topics of interest. This really pulls back the curtains on science to some degree, which provides perspectives you just cannot get from written articles.

In vivo Optogenetic Stimulation of the Rodent Central Nervous System

Michelle M. Sidor1, Thomas J. Davidson2, Kay M. Tye3, Melissa R. Warden4, Karl Diesseroth2,5, Colleen A. McClung1

1Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, 3Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, 5Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University