TY - JOUR
T1 - The manipulation of neural and cellular activities by ectopic expression of melanopsin
AU - Koizumi, Amane
AU - Tanaka, Kenji F.
AU - Yamanaka, Akihiro
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Satoru Moritoh for technical support. This study was financially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for challenging Exploratory Research (AY and AK) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. This study was also supported by the Takeda Foundation (AY, KFT, and AK) and the Yamada Foundation (AK and KFT).
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - Melanopsin (OPN4) is a photosensitive pigment originally found in a subtype of retinal ganglion cells and is a 7-transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). Several previous reports showed that ectopic expression of OPN4 can be used as an optogenetic tool to control neural and cellular activities in various tissues. Compared with other optogenetic pigments, OPN4 is more sensitive to light, shows long-lasting activation, and can also control intracellular Ca2+ dynamics. Here, we review how the ectopic expression of OPN4 enables the control of neural and cellular activities in vivo. In the retina, the ectopic expression of melanopsin in retinal ganglion cells successfully restored the vision of blind mice. It has also been reported that ectopic expression of melanopsin in orexin/hypocretin neurons enabled control of wakefulness in mice by blue light. In addition to neural activity, the ectopic expression of OPN4 has been reported to enable circuit control of the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) to enhance blood-glucose homeostasis in mice. We discuss the possibility of optogenetic control of other systems through the ectopic expression of OPN4.
AB - Melanopsin (OPN4) is a photosensitive pigment originally found in a subtype of retinal ganglion cells and is a 7-transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). Several previous reports showed that ectopic expression of OPN4 can be used as an optogenetic tool to control neural and cellular activities in various tissues. Compared with other optogenetic pigments, OPN4 is more sensitive to light, shows long-lasting activation, and can also control intracellular Ca2+ dynamics. Here, we review how the ectopic expression of OPN4 enables the control of neural and cellular activities in vivo. In the retina, the ectopic expression of melanopsin in retinal ganglion cells successfully restored the vision of blind mice. It has also been reported that ectopic expression of melanopsin in orexin/hypocretin neurons enabled control of wakefulness in mice by blue light. In addition to neural activity, the ectopic expression of OPN4 has been reported to enable circuit control of the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) to enhance blood-glucose homeostasis in mice. We discuss the possibility of optogenetic control of other systems through the ectopic expression of OPN4.
KW - Melanopsin
KW - Optogenetics
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neures.2012.07.010
DO - 10.1016/j.neures.2012.07.010
M3 - Review article
C2 - 22982474
AN - SCOPUS:84875329670
VL - 75
SP - 3
EP - 5
JO - Neuroscience Research
JF - Neuroscience Research
SN - 0168-0102
IS - 1
ER -