Optogenetic stimulation of neuronal repair

Environmental insult, disease or trauma can affect the physical integrity of neuronal circuits, and the inability of many neurons to regenerate injured axons invariably leads to irreversible neural dysfunction [1]. The conserved second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) can promote axon...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current biology 2015-11, Vol.25 (22), p.R1068-R1069
Main Authors: Xiao, Yan, Tian, Weili, López-Schier, Hernán
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Axons - physiology
Humans
Nerve Regeneration - physiology
Neurons - physiology
Optogenetics - methods
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Summary:Environmental insult, disease or trauma can affect the physical integrity of neuronal circuits, and the inability of many neurons to regenerate injured axons invariably leads to irreversible neural dysfunction [1]. The conserved second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) can promote axonal re-growth [2–5]. Widely used pharmacological or genetic approaches to increase intracellular levels of cAMP are often inadequate for precise neural-circuit reconstruction because their activity cannot be easily timed to specific target cells. These shortcomings have prevented the controlled repair of pre-defined neurons at selected time points in whole specimens. Thus, technologies to guide neuronal repair in time and space would enable studies of neural-circuit recovery with unprecedented resolution. Towards this aim, we have implemented a proof-of-principle optogenetic method to promote the selective regeneration of refractory axons in a living vertebrate. Xiao et al. show that light-controlled cAMP generation in transected central axons of the zebrafish lateral line stimulates regeneration.
ISSN:0960-9822
1879-0445
DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2015.09.038