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Reward-seeking behavior regulated with optogenetics

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Compiled by BioPhotonics staff

Scientists have used optogenetics to control reward-seeking behaviors such as drug addiction in rodents, demonstrating the roles of specific connections in the brain that control behavior. Through combining genetic engineering and laser technology, scientists at the University of North Carolina tweaked the microcircuitry of the brain so that they could assess how those changes affect behavior. Their findings, which appeared in the June 29 issue of Nature (doi: 10.1038/nature 10194), suggest that therapeutics that target the path between two critical brain regions – the amygdala and...Read full article

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    Published: September 2011
    Glossary
    optogenetics
    A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue, typically neurons, which have been genetically modified to respond to light. Only the cells that have been modified to include light-sensitive proteins will be under control of the light. The ability to selectively target cells gives researchers precise control. Using light to control the excitation, inhibition and signaling pathways of specific cells or groups of...
    AmericasamygdaleBiophotonicsBioScanbrain wiring manipulationelectrical stimulationgenetic engineeringgenetically manipulated brain cellslight-sensitive proteinsmicrocircuitryneuropsychiatric diseasesNewsNorth Carolinanucelus accumbensopsinsOpticsoptogeneticsParkinsons diseasepharmacotherapyreward-seeking behaviorUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillLasers

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