What is Optogenetics?
Optogenetics is the
combination of genetics and optics to control well-defined
events within specific cells of living tissue. It includes the discovery and
insertion into cells of genes that confer light responsiveness; it also
includes the associated technologies for delivering light deep into organisms
as complex as freely moving mammals, for targeting light-sensitivity to cells
of interest, and for assessing specific readouts, or effects, of this optical
control.
What excites neuroscientists about optogenetics is control over defined events within defined cell types at defined times—a level of precision that is most likely crucial to biological understanding even beyond neuroscience. The significance of any event in a cell has full meaning only in the context of the other events occurring around it in the rest of the tissue, the whole organism or even the larger environment. Even a shift of a few milliseconds in the timing of a neuron's firing, for example, can sometimes completely reverse the effect of its signal on the rest of the nervous system. And millisecond-scale timing precision within behaving mammals has been essential for key insights into both normal brain function and into clinical problems such as parkinsonism. (Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=optogenetics-controlling)
Light-responsive proteins are allowing scientists to turn neurons on or off selectively with unprecedented precision. Introducing these proteins into cultured cells or the brains of live animals allows investigation of the structure and function of neural networks. These ‘optogenetic’ tools also hold clinical promise, with the potential for modulating activity of brain circuits involved in neurological disorders or restoring vision loss. (Source: http://www.mpg.de/18011/Optogenetics)
What excites neuroscientists about optogenetics is control over defined events within defined cell types at defined times—a level of precision that is most likely crucial to biological understanding even beyond neuroscience. The significance of any event in a cell has full meaning only in the context of the other events occurring around it in the rest of the tissue, the whole organism or even the larger environment. Even a shift of a few milliseconds in the timing of a neuron's firing, for example, can sometimes completely reverse the effect of its signal on the rest of the nervous system. And millisecond-scale timing precision within behaving mammals has been essential for key insights into both normal brain function and into clinical problems such as parkinsonism. (Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=optogenetics-controlling)
Light-responsive proteins are allowing scientists to turn neurons on or off selectively with unprecedented precision. Introducing these proteins into cultured cells or the brains of live animals allows investigation of the structure and function of neural networks. These ‘optogenetic’ tools also hold clinical promise, with the potential for modulating activity of brain circuits involved in neurological disorders or restoring vision loss. (Source: http://www.mpg.de/18011/Optogenetics)