title: Transgenic mouse models enabling photolabeling of individual neurons in vivo.
abstract: One of the biggest tasks in neuroscience is to explain activity patterns of individual neurons during behavior by their cellular characteristics and their connectivity within the neuronal network. To greatly facilitate linking in vivo experiments with a more detailed molecular or physiological analysis in vitro, we have generated and characterized genetically modified mice expressing photoactivatable GFP (PA-GFP) that allow conditional photolabeling of individual neurons. Repeated photolabeling at the soma reveals basic morphological features due to diffusion of activated PA-GFP into the dendrites. Neurons photolabeled in vivo can be re-identified in acute brain slices and targeted for electrophysiological recordings. We demonstrate the advantages of PA-GFP expressing mice by the correlation of in vivo firing rates of individual neurons with their expression levels of the immediate early gene c-fos. Generally, the mouse models described in this study enable the combination of various analytical approaches to characterize living cells, also beyond the neurosciences.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peter
authors.forename: Brice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bathellier
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fontinha
authors.forename: Pinelopi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pliota
authors.forename: Wulf
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haubensak
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rumpel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D058948:Cell Tracking / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D023061:Gene Order; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins