title: Biolistic delivery of voltage-sensitive dyes for fast recording of membrane potential changes in individual neurons in rat brain slices.
abstract: Optical recording of membrane potential changes with fast voltage-sensitive dyes (VSDs) in neurons is one of the very few available methods for studying the generation and propagation of electrical signals to the distant compartments of excitable cells. The more lipophilic is the VSD, the better signal-to-noise ratio of the optical signal can be achieved. At present there are no effective ways to deliver water-insoluble dyes into the membranes of live cells. Here, we report a possibility to stain individual live neurons with highly lipophilic VSDs in acute brain slices using biolistic delivery. We tested four ANEP-based VSDs with different lipophilic properties and showed their ability to stain single neurons in a slice area of up to 150 μm in diameter after being delivered by a biolistic apparatus. In the slices of neocortex and hippocampus, the two most lipophilic dyes, di-8-ANEPPS and di-12-ANEPPQ, showed cell-specific loading and Golgi-like staining patterns with minimal background fluorescence. Simultaneous patch-clamp and optical recording of biolistically stained neurons demonstrated a good match of optical and electrical signals both for spontaneous APs (action potentials) and stimulus-evoked events. Our results demonstrate the high efficiency of a fast and targeted method of biolistic delivery of lipophilic VSDs for optical signals recording from mammalian neurons in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Butlerova 5A, Moscow 117485, Russian Federation. aseyev@ihna.ru
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aseyev
authors.forename: Matvey
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roshchin
authors.forename: Victor N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Ierusalimsky
authors.forename: Pavel M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Balaban
authors.forename: Evgeny S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Nikitin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D019470:Biolistics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D009281:Naphthalenes / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D011726:Pyridinium Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D056969:Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging
chemical_list: C089669:1-(3-sulfonatopropyl)-4-(beta-(2-(di-n-octylamino)-6-naphthyl)vinyl)pyridinium betaine; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009281:Naphthalenes; D011726:Pyridinium Compounds; C034749:di-2-naphthylthiocarbazone; C050019:1-(3-sulfonatopropyl)-4-(beta)(2-(di-n-butylamino)-6-naphthylvinyl)pyridinium betaine